A recent discussion in the newspaper office got heated when the topic of which iPad game was most popular on campus. One senior said, “Madden, FIFA, and Deer Hunter are the only games that people here play.”

No matter what games you are playing, one thing that seems to be apparent is the distraction they create during class. Think about any of your classes: What percentage of students are playing games as opposed to taking notes? When asked how often he is on task while using his iPad in class, an anonymous junior, replied, “I am maybe on task 25 percent of the time.”

Whose responsibility is it to remain on task? Are the teachers too forgiving? One teacher said, “I let the iPad behavior go the first few weeks of school, but I have begun to crack down more recently.” Is this the right course? As students, do we need the teachers to be more strict?

A senior commented, “All my grades were lower this year than every other year, but after I deleted all my games, my grades began to get better and better.”

The responsibility to remain on task falls squarely upon us, the students. Just because you have a computer in front of you doesn’t mean you have to play games on it. Delete your games!