On notebook computers in the classroom:
Devices have become security blankets. Take the time to wean yourself. … [L]eave the laptop behind. In a lecture, you’ll only waste your time and your parents’ money, disrespect your professor and annoy whoever is trying to pay attention around you by spending the whole hour on Facebook. You don’t need a computer to take notes—good note-taking is not transcribing. All that clack, clack, clacking … you’re a student, not a court reporter. And in seminar or discussion sections, get used to being around a table with a dozen other humans, a few books and your ideas. After all, you have the rest of your life to hide behind a screen during meetings.
—Christine Smallwood (source: “Ditch Your Laptop, Dump Your Boyfriend,” NY Times, 26-Sep-2010, p. WK12).
Maybe some critical thinking needed here. It all sounds terrific. But I am not sure using a laptop to take notes in class is also the same as not understanding, or even appreciating, that humans are around the table. Typing and screen watching are not necessarily disconnecting from others.