College Students Are Constantly Texting In Class, Study Finds

The professors who ban students from using a laptop in class may have a point.

The average college student checks their cell phone 11 times a day while in class, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study finds, and only eight percent say they never look at their mobile device while they should be paying attention to their instructor.

When they are looking at their phone, 86 percent said in the survey they're texting. Two-thirds admitted to checking email or social networks in class either on their mobile device or laptop. A majority -- 55 percent -- said they did this out of boredom.

Broadcasting professor Bernard McCoy surveyed 777 students at six universities in five states for the study. It was published in October in the Journal of Media Education.

While 80 percent said they believe smart phones, tablets and laptops interfere with their learning, less than five percent said it was a "big" or "very big" distraction. Ninety-one percent opposed a ban on digital devices on class.

"I don't think students necessarily think it's problematic," McCoy said in a news release. "They think it's part of their lives."