The rise in smartphones among young people may be having a direct effect on how successful they become as adults. Research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has discovered the average university student checks their phones 11 times per lesson, and more than 80 percent believe this tech addiction is interfering with  their learning. A quarter of students across five U.S states also blamed poor grades in exams specifically on the fact they used mobile devices  when they should have been concentrating and revising - and these grades could determine the jobs they end up going into. Barney McCoy, an associate professor of broadcasting at the university, surveyed 777 students at six universities across five states about how they used digital devices in the classroom. The students were from UNL and the University of Nebraska at Omaha in Nebraska, Morningside College in Iowa, the University of North Carolina, the University of Kansas and the University of Mississippi. Around two thirds said they used phones, tablets and laptops for "non-classroom purposes" up to ten times during a typical university day, while 15 percent admitted this figure was closer to 30 times. Among the top reasons why students checked their devices so regularly were staying connected and fighting boredom, at 55 percent. Less than half said the devices were used for classwork. Texting was the most popular distraction  technique at 86 percent, while 68 percent said they used their phones to check personal emails. Two thirds used social networks, 38 percent surfed the web and eight percent admitted to playing games when they should have been studying. Despite eight out of ten students admitting their devices were distracting, fewer than five percent considered it to be a "very big" distraction. "I don't think students necessarily think it's a big problem," said McCoy said. "They think it's part of their lives." "It's become automatic behavior on the part of so many people - they do it without even thinking about it." He continued, "They've got their laptops open, but they're not always taking notes. Some might have two screens open -- Facebook and their notes." The majority of the students think that using smartphones   _   .
helps to improve their grades. contributed to their poor grades. has a bad effect on their studies. determines their jobs in the future.