Don't play on your phone in class... at least for the first month > The virtues of actually paying attention Cazzy Lewchuk Interim Opinions Editor C ell phones are an essential part of class—whether the prof lets you have them on the desk, or you gotta be discreet with your crotch, all of us know the feeling of glancing during lectures at that screen. It pains me to preach about it; for almost every course I’ve ever taken, I was on my phone from the very first class. But the truth is, actually putting your phone away is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It really does help you learn. Many classes are boring, and seem like repeats of what you read in the textbook. The entire lecture’s notes are available online! You can always read them later—why did you even bother coming to the class? The minute details of biochemistry can wait, you think, as you glance at your Facebook timeline, or re-blog something. No doubt, paying attention in class helps you to understand the material better. But a better reason to abandon your phone is Stop blaming 2016 for celebrity deaths to help you understand the class structure itself. Are there ever group activities, or participation assignments? Does the professor never diverge from the notes, or is the lecture full of additional— > Why time isn’t the culprit Cazzy Lewchuk Interim Opinions Editor avid Bowie. Alan Rickman. Prince. Gene Wilder. Muhammad Ali. Harambe. 2016 just can’t seem to stop killing beloved figures—and surely the year itself is the culprit! Every time a beloved public figure dies, I see the same outcries. “Damn you, 2016!” “Hasn't this year been awful enough?” or “What is the return policy on 2016?” The fact is, celebrities die all the time. In almost every celebrity death, the star is either at a vulnerable old age—in their 70s and ’80s—and/or has a terminal illness. It’s unfortunate, but eventually it’s time to say goodbye to entertainers—many of whom produced work enjoyed by multiple generations. It’s a hard thing to come to terms with, particularly when death arrives without warning. These are names and faces familiar to virtually everyone. Millions of people were entertained by their work. Perhaps the sheer popularity of the deceased this year contributed to the anger; figures like Bowie, Prince, and Ali were iconic voices of a generation. They played by their own rules, and on some levels barely seemed human. It made their passing all the more shocking with the reminder that even our immortalized heroes on posters and perhaps even useful— content? Are your classmates furiously scribbling notes, or just as not-so-discreetly checking their phones as you are? If you’re not on your phone were not immune to the reaper. But the year is not at fault here. I could go on about how time is a meaningless fluid concept and that the year doesn’t truly have meaning. It certainly has been a crazy one: outrageous political campaigns, massive public tragedies, and the release of Suicide Squad Image via www.aljazeera.com and still bored as hell, make some notes. Even if it’s the same material as what is written on the lecture slides, copy it down anyway. It stays in your brain better. If you have the textbook di Graphic by Mike LeMieux a have all contributed to keeping the public’s spirits low. But all of those events would have happened over a longer period of time and framed in our mindset. They just happened to fall within the same arbitrary period from January to the current month, September. A lot of beloved celebrities with you, find that section and copy anything not covered on the slides. You never know when the prof may actually make a useful point that’s missed because you were too busy on your phone. Phones distract more than you think, even if you're like me and mastered the art of being on it while not missing anything whatsoever. If you have sat through a full four weeks of lecture and done all you could to be more productive during class time, then it’s okay to start sneaking some phone time in there. At this point, you'll know the nature of the class. It could be one where playing on your phone will not significantly decrease your learning, or it could be one where being on your phone means missing really, really important information. But the point is, you'll know. We all pay money to attend school, and each class in session is a portion of that money. Youre paying cash to be educated here; you might as well try to avoid distractions from giving you that education. At least for the first month. died in 2015 too, but those events don’t stand out to us, looking back. It’s the same in 2014, or any other year. In the current case, so many awful things have happened (or at least that’s what the media would have you believe) that the celebrities are icing on the cake. Eventually, 2016 will pass, and in 20 years we probably wont look back and think “Oh, that was the year all the celebrities died” No year has ever been remembered for that before, because celebrities die at the same rate as everyone else. You'd probably be hard- pressed to remember the year a given figure died, or which ones all passed in the same 12-month period. More important things will take precedence, just as they should now. Another celebrity will probably die by the end of the year, most likely one who is at an advanced age, and very sick. They'll be a mark in 2016, the year of tragic ends to public figure’s lives—but eventually, they'll be remembered only for their legacy, and not the year they died.