So this past week my friend pulled out her phone before a class began and clicked on an app and locked her phone. I asked her what she was doing. She told me that she was earning Pocket Points.
Pocket Points is an app that you earn points on if you stay off your phone during class, library time, or on campus I has a GPS that lets it know that you are on your campus in a class area. All you do is open the app and click the home tab in the app. It will bring up a present that is slowly filling up. A blue bar will come across the top and blink saying to lock your phone. You do. Then a notification will come up saying you are currently earning pocket points.
The points slowly add up. But what do you do with these points once you earn them? Well, many local businesses around Starkville have coupons on the app that you redeem your points for to receive the coupon. All you do is click the coupon and show them the code it brings up.
The idea behind this app is to encourage students to stay off their phones during class. Every so many minutes you stay off your phone you receive a point. And they add up fast. The app picks up classroom time, lab time, and library time. The more you are off your phone, the more points.
Think about it. If you can put up your phone for just a but, you get discounts at stores we all go to. It's not as hard to stay off of it when you are being rewarded. It's not like you are getting a prize for doing what you're already supposed to be doing: listening to that boring professor in the front of the class. You are just getting a bit of encouragement to stay off your phone on those days that your professor is droning on and on about some theory or philosophy that we can all just read about in the book that they read it out of.
One question that people ask it: Why is this even necessary?
We, as college students, hear everyday how we rely so much on technology. I have heard many people say that this kind of reward system for things that administrators and professors say is a requirement to pass. But I see it as a reward for doing the thing you already have to do. If it already has to be done, then why not take advantage of it. I have a class that my professor is very adamant that if he sees your phone he will dock your next test 10 points. So that is my motivation to not even check the time on it. The points I get because I am not on my phone is just a perk.
So download it y'all! Why not get the points we all deserve! Sometimes it's the only points we might get for the day anyway!
