The whole traumatic episode began on the first day of the semester.

I remember it well. I was sitting at a table in a stuffy Arts Building classroom, thumbing through the course outline that had been handed to me by a professor who had only just walked into the room but was already inexplicably covered in chalk.

The outline seemed like standard fare. No surprises, really — until I got to the last page. There, the second line from the bottom: “computers must be turned off; no texting or related activities.”

The paper slipped out of my trembling fingers and fluttered down to the table. I felt like I had been given the Black Spot (cue nods of approval from English majors and pirate fans). My breath caught in my throat and I broke out in a cold sweat. My heart raced. I glanced around the room, clammy palms raised in an abject gesture of disbelief, hoping to catch a classmate’s eye and share a moment of profound incredulity.

I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t the professor know what century it was? Did he expect me to take notes with a quill and parchment? I could picture the torturous weeks stretching out in front of me with no end in sight. It was going to be like Trainspotting except with cell phones instead of needles; somehow I had to kick my nasty Facebook freebasing habit.

All right, I’m being slightly melodramatic. I didn’t have a nervous breakdown or a near-death experience in class, and I’m not desperately addicted to my cell phone or laptop. Well, not quite.

But I was a little bit caught off guard. I knew that some professors frowned on students using cell phones during their class, but I had never encountered any hard-and-fast rules prohibiting it. Now I was facing an all-out ban on electronics, including laptops.

I seriously wondered if I was capable of resisting technological temptation for entire 80-minute periods. I questioned the prof’s rationale — it’s not like the occasional text message was hurting anyone, right?

That was more than two months ago. I’ve managed to refrain from using my various electronic devices in class and as a result my perspective on the situation has fundamentally changed. Looking back, my initial reaction is almost embarrassing.

I’ve seen first-hand how putting away the gadgets in the classroom can dramatically increase the amount of information one can absorb and retain, and how it can make lectures more engaging, fulfilling and entertaining.

This is starting to sound like a preachy high school Public Service Announcement. Hold on — hear me out!

The cognitive benefits of closing a laptop or pocketing a cell phone in a classroom should come as no surprise to anyone who has studied entry-level psychology. Reducing the number of distracting external stimuli increases one’s ability to focus on the specific task at hand, like actively participating in class discussions or absorbing information.

Yes, some students choose to take notes on laptops, or like to follow along with presentation slides or other course material, especially in more technical classes. But in the three years I’ve been creepily observing my classmates’ computer use, I’ve yet to witness anyone go an entire lecture without repeatedly tabbing out to engage in something decidedly non-academic. The first person to read this article online while in class gets bonus points for proving me right.

The experience has shed light on how overly dependent we’ve become on our digital devices, and how important it can be to put them aside, if only while in the classroom. Bear in mind, this is a pretty out-of-character revelation coming from a guy who lives and breathes the Internet and gets more of a tan from his laptop screen than the sun.

Despite that (and the ridiculous introduction to this article), it strikes me as unfortunate that we’ve reached the point where professors have to actively enforce strict no electronics policies in their classrooms. We’re paying an exorbitant price for our education and we’re wasting our money by letting professors lecture to a sea of faces bathed in the glow of cell phones and laptops. And it’s not just our money going to waste — don’t forget all the knowledge that’s bouncing off the back of our laptops that should be seeping into our brains.

Students are going to keep bringing their devices to class. I will probably be one of them.

In most cases no one is going to object. Still, just for fun, try going through an entire lecture with your laptop in your bag and your phone in your pocket. Maybe that boring class you usually spend obsessively refreshing Facebook isn’t as lame as you remember. I guarantee it will go by faster, and that you’ll leave a slightly smarter human being.

It’s not a massive struggle to unplug ourselves from our electronic devices, at least for the duration of a university lecture. Or at least it shouldn’t be. Maybe there are students that can text and take notes on a laptop and pay attention to what’s going on, all while scoring precious class participation grades. But us mortals might be better off sticking to that quill and parchment.

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image: Christian Holmér/Flickr