(24 November 2016) A university in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality set up a reading room as part of a campaign that barred students from taking their mobile phones with them in case the device distracted them from concentrating on their studies, cqcb.com reported.
Reportedly a student named Hu Xiaopeng participating in the campaign studied 530 minutes without using his mobile phone even once. Unlike Hu, another one picked up his mobile phone in less than 20 minutes.
“Having seen many students use their mobile phones in the library, a habit that shortens their study time and negatively impacts their learning, we decided to open this reading room,” said Zhang Shuran, the person responsible for the project at the university.
Zhang added that students can keep their phones in designated bags with numbers on them. The bags are placed on a desk near the door of the reading room.
“Staff members at the reading room will check the phones when there’s a call,” said Zhang, adding that they will inform students when their parents or teachers call them, but will not tell students if an unknown person is calling or when there’s a text message.
ChinaDaily.com.cn has the full story by Yao Yao.
