Law Students and Cell Phone Use: Results of a Six-School Survey

11 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2021 Last revised: 20 May 2021

See all articles by Robert M. Jarvis

Robert M. Jarvis

Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad College of Law

Cindy Thomas Archer

University of California - Irvine | School of Law

Linda Galler

Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law

Hugh D. Spitzer

University of Washington - School of Law

Jodi Wilson

University of Memphis - Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law

Mark E. Wojcik

The John Marshall Law School; UIC John Marshall Law School

Date Written: 2020

Abstract

The sight of a law student using his or her cell phone now is so common that law professors do not give it a second thought. But what, exactly, is the student doing? Texting with friends? Shopping? Watching a movie? To try to find out, during the Fall 2019 semester we asked our six diverse law schools to take an online survey consisting of eighteen questions. To our knowledge, this is the first phone survey of law students.

This paper presents the results of the survey, exploring applications used (text, social media, email, etc.) and differences by audience (e.g., whether students used text or email with employers as opposed to friends).

Keywords: cell phones, smart phones, mobile phones, social media, text messages, email, law students, legal education, law school, personal technology

Suggested Citation

Jarvis, Robert M. and Archer, Cindy and Galler, Linda and Spitzer, Hugh D. and Wilson, Jodi and Wojcik, Mark E. and Wojcik, Mark E., Law Students and Cell Phone Use: Results of a Six-School Survey (2020). UMKC Law Review, Vol. 89, No. 2, pp. 269-78, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3773222

Robert M. Jarvis (Contact Author)

Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad College of Law ( email )

3305 College Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314
United States

Cindy Archer

University of California - Irvine | School of Law ( email )

401 E. Peltason Dr.
Ste. 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-1000
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/archer/

Linda Galler

Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law ( email )

121 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549
United States
516-463-5895 (Phone)

Hugh D. Spitzer

University of Washington - School of Law ( email )

Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98195-3020
United States
206-685-1635 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: https://www.law.washington.edu/directory/profile.aspx?ID=470

Jodi Wilson

University of Memphis - Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law ( email )

One North Front Street
Memphis, TN 38103-2189
United States

Mark E. Wojcik

The John Marshall Law School ( email )

315 South Plymouth Court
Chicago, IL 60604
United States

UIC John Marshall Law School ( email )

300 S. State Street
Chicago, IL 60604
United States

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