So you just spent $2,000 of mom and dad's money on a brand new MacBook Pro. You're an anthropology major with no real interest in computing, and you will only be using it for e-mail and basic word processing. You really only needed a cheap Dell laptop for that, but that black matte finish matched your North Face and Uggs so well, you couldn't help yourself!
Now that you have this prohibitively expensive piece of technology, it's time to show it off. What better way than bringing it to class for "taking notes?" That way, everyone sees that not only do you have a really cool new computer, but you are also a responsible college student!
There's nothing wrong with someone taking notes on a laptop. I also can type much faster than I can write, and I understand that typed notes often turn out more complete and easier to read. In fact, I tried bringing a laptop to class once, but I ended up scouring eBay for rare Sega Saturn games and ignored the lecture entirely. Since then, I've settled for the more conventional pen and paper approach.
And that's the problem with taking notes on a laptop: most people don't. Instead, they chat with friends, play games and generally ignore the professor. It's really hard to focus in a large lecture hall with dozens of laptop screens screaming for your attention.
I can either listen to Prof. Meyer explain how black holes form, or I can watch the sorority girl in front of me make laughable beginners' mistakes in Tetris. More often than not, sorority girl wins. (If you are reading this, Tetris-playing sorority girl, you really have not improved much this semester.)
I suppose not everyone is as distracted by laptops as I am. I am sure that plenty of students are perfectly capable of simply looking away and focusing on the lecture. Not me. Once, I spent an entire review session watching a football player silently video chat with his girlfriend. Hilarious, but not what I came to the review session for.
We all spend a lot of money to go to this school, and it's rude to distract people by screwing around. Playing with your laptop during a class is inappropriate in the same way that talking to a friend or speaking out of turn is.
Students come to a class to listen to the professor, and, theoretically, so did you. By reading ESPN.com or checking your e-mail, you are essentially telling the professor that you are not interested what he or she has to say. That's fine, I have had plenty of professors whose lectures I skipped because I did not find them useful. But that's just it, I skipped. I didn't show up just to spend the hour playing Text Twist.
I don't have a problem with people falling asleep in class. Hell, show up stoned for all I care (especially for astronomy). Neither of those things distract other students or detract from the quality of the course. But if you really cannot bring yourself to either pay attention or space out in the back row, you shouldn't bother getting out of bed.
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