We need freedom from freedom in a world brimming with a level of temptation no human was evolved to navigate. Of course every student *feels* the endless buzz of electronic distraction, and nobody seems to dispute the literature declaring the superiority of handwritten notes, and yet we still can’t help ourselves in continuing to employ electronics. So please save us from ourselves and ban electronics in class. You will help us learn better, gain more of our attention—currently wasted on iMessage, YouTube, etc—and maybe even assist us in finding some peace in a world increasingly devoid of it.

But maybe you find this unpersuasive. After all, this is America, land of the free, home of the brave, and these are smart adults using their own free will however they damn well please—if they want to sabotage their attention, so be it. Yet this is not a victimless crime. Consider how a single cell phone lighting up in a dark movie theater draws attention from more than a single person. So just as people can’t “choose” to avoid breathing in secondhand smoke, diligent non-laptop students can’t well “choose” to avoid the TikTok video that crosses their vision due to the single laptop student and his inability to focus on your lectures.