Many students these days do not realize the effects of what cell phone usage in school is doing to them.  According to Cincinnati.com, "Cell phone ownership among 12- to 14- year-olds increased from 13 percent in February 2002 to now more than 50 percent."  Also according to an article in the Washington Post, written by Sam Diaz, regarding cell phone usage found that cell phone usage among these teens is school was around two hours and forty-five minutes.  This statistic is astronomical!  During an average school day a student from ninth grade to a senior in high school would spend around 6 total hours in an actual classroom.  Yet if one student subtracts this last statistic from the hours spent in an actual classroom, one student would actual be studying or paying attention in class around three hours a day.  The use of cell phones in school is causing these students to lose focus in and out of the classroom.  In regards to this inability to focus, an article in the Washington Post by Donna St. George, writes interesting statements from David E. Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan.  He stated when one multitasks that there is "...a kind of mental brownout, If a teenager is reading Shakespeare when a text message interrupts, "Hamlet's going to fade in and out in a ghostly fog."  And the problem he states is that"...you're not truly time-sharing.  You're flitting back and forth, and the flitting itself is taking processing capacity."  Losing focus in the classroom from a text message or an email received, takes away from one student's mental capacity when trying to gather information for a test in the next week or a quiz due by next class.  Many students all around the country are affected by the use of their cell phones, myself being a member of this group.  Yet it's up to one's own actions on whether or not they want to affect their progress in school.