This may come as a shock to all the parents out there, but most kids don’t sit in the front row of class (sorry, classmates, I just blew your cover). I, too, fall under the “most kids” category. My mind is already wandering in a lecture, but sitting behind people leads to a whole new world of distractions.
You see, with technology becoming a forever-larger part of everyday life, more and more students are bringing their laptops (tablets, etc.) to class to “take notes.” When you’re not sitting in the front row, you can see the computer screen of almost everyone in front of you. It’s distracting, yes, but also far more entertaining than paying attention in class. Here are a few things you might see when you don’t nerd out and sit so close you can smell your professor’s B.O.:
1. Online Shopping
This is probably the most frequent activity I see happening on people’s computers in class. Yes, I can see you browsing Forever 21 and comparing the price of that flowy top and those shoes to Nordstrom.
2. Play Games
I’ve seen people playing cartoon golf games and MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Pokémon, and others. Why are you even in class?
3. Facebook
This is why everyone knows all the drama and whatnot happening in your fraternity or sorority. Brittany didn’t run her mouth and say some stupid sh*t to a person outside your chapter, she opened your “secret” group in a lecture hall where the 20 people surrounding her—packing into the room like sardines—could all see whatever was on her screen.
4. Watch Videos
Why people do this in class, I’ll never know. That being said, I’m totally guilty of occasionally doing this on my phone. But you’re either watching a silent video (which is what I do), or you’re wearing headphones in class to listen to it, which means you can’t even hear the professor, which again makes me wonder why you even came to class.
5. iMessaging
This one obviously only holds true if you use a Mac, but this is another reason why some random person knows about your stupid drama and there is a rumor going around about you. Your friend didn’t stab you in the back and talk sh*t, someone in your lecture probably saw you talking about whatever situation with your main b*tch via iMessage (although your friend may still have talked shit—that’s for you to find out).
6. Buzzfeed Quizzes
Yeah, I see you trying to figure out Which Disney Princess You Dislike Based on Your Zodiac sign.
7. Other Classwork
Hey, at least you’re being productive. But it’s funny that while you’re accomplishing something for one class, you’re missing all of the information being taught in the current class. And then you’ll go to your next class and do the work for the class you just didn’t pay attention in. But maybe I’d actually do my work if I were to start doing it in my other classes…
8. Porn
You know there’s some poor sonofabitch who opens his laptop, only to realize that he forgot to close his browser with Pornhub still open. Bonus points if the sound is on and a video starts playing. You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of porn they accidentally show you in class.
