Allowing smartphones in class may affect the students’ ability to concentrate, eventually hampering their academic performance, warns a new research.

Instead of using their phones to follow the lectures, students use them to communicate with friends, watch YouTube videos or just browse around the web to follow their interests, said the study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

“While ever-smarter digital devices have made many aspects of our lives easier and more efficient, a growing body of evidence suggests that, by continuously distracting us, they are harming our ability to concentrate,” said Daniel le Roux from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

The researchers pointed out that university lecturers are encouraged to develop blended learning initiatives and bring tech — videos, podcasts, Facebook pages, etc. — into the classroom more and more to offer students the enhanced experiences enabled by digital media.

However, an important effect of these initiatives has been to establish media use during university lectures as the norm, they warned.

Studies across the world show that students constantly use their phones when they are in class.

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