Cell phones have become increasingly visible on college campuses around the nation and students are more likely to be seen sporting cell phones than textbooks.

According to the most recent survey conducted by Student Monitor LLC, nearly nine out of 10 college students nationally own cellular phones and students are spending more money for their cellular telephone service that they are for textbooks.

But this is not the only concern that people are having about cell phones on college campuses. As cell phones become more visible, they are becoming more of a nuisance.

“It’s irritating,” says Starsha Valentine, a senior, psychology major student at Howard University in Washington, DC. “I think that people kind of get addicted to cell phones, like people have to bring them everywhere. Students bring them into class and they interfere with instruction.”

Veketa Harris, another senior at Howard University majoring in biology agrees with Valentine. She says cell phones do interrupt education because many students, including her, do not always turn their cell phones off during class.

“We just simply turn them on vibrate, but still go out of the way to sees whose calling when the phone vibrates.”

Students are doing more than just checking their cell phones to see who’s calling them during class, they are text messaging during lectures, shuffling to turn their phones off when they ring, and some students go as far as to leave out of class to answer their phones [and can be heard] talking on it right outside of the classroom door, according to Harris.

Some teachers have even banned cell phones from their classes or make students turn them off prior to class.

Dr. Alinda Sumers, an associate professor in the English department at Howard University says she usually asks students to turn their phone off at the beginning of class as she turns hers off.

Though Dr. Sumers feels cell phones are sometimes annoying she also understands because our country has become electronically wired. But Sumers and others may be shocked to find out what else students are using their phones for besides talking.

“They cheat during tests and play games because cell phones do everything thing nowadays,” says Shovettia Murphy, a senior education major at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.

With features on cell phones that give students access to the internet, a calculator, and other tools, some students are also using their cell phones to cheat on assignments and exams in class.

Murphy says she has noticed this going on even at the high school level as she completes her student teaching, which is apart of her major requirement.

“The students text each other the answers to the test or text information to their phones.”

Murphy feels cheating is a lot easier and less obvious than when she was in school.

“When I was in school students were more likely to get caught because they would hold up fingers, cough, or pass notes when they cheated, but it is a different ball game now.”

It definitely is a different ball game, especially concerning the revenue being brought in by cellular service provides. It is apparent that students are spending the money to get the service they want.

Students are spending $294 million each month for their cellular telephone service according to research by Student Monitor LLC. With this kind of capital being generated in the cellular industry it is not surprising that landline services are becoming obsolete.

Based on an article at omnicellonline.com, the switch from landline to wireless has begun. Customer usage is increasing thereby reducing the costs for service. With free long distance and ‘family plans,’ it is now cheaper to use a cell phone than to pay for landline services.

And many college students are considering the benefits of taking advantage of this opportunity.

Shone Jemmott, a senior, public relations major at Howard University lives off-campus, but does not have a house phone because she uses her cell phone and doesn’t feel there is a need for one.

With the growing popularity of cell phones, the industry’s revenue is expected to get larger in coming years, and so will cellular phones visibility and functions on campuses across the nation.