Chromebooks are used for everything from surveys to testing to turning in assignments. But these gadgets can be distractions from the very thing they were designed to help with: schoolwork.

A recent study done by Stanford demonstrated that students with open laptops remembered less of what was said during lectures than those with closed ones, showing the laptops’ opposite effect than the one intended.

All of the entertainment on the internet is at students’ fingertips now that they have access to it. Students are aware of this, and many try to play games on the laptops while still somewhat paying attention.

“Most of our teachers know that we play games on them a lot and they don’t really care, [as long as] you get your work done,” said senior Kushagra Sharma, who uses chromebooks in his French, English, and History classes. “Most people usually get their work done first, then do other stuff.”

The computers are also shown to be helpful in submitting assignments easily and efficiently through programs like Google Classroom.

“There’s less of that transition that has to happen, where you write it down, and then type it up,” said English teacher Laura Davidson, who uses chromebooks with her junior classes.

The English department has three full Chromebook carts and a smaller partial set, shared amongst all students at Sequoia, since every student takes English.

Despite the distractions posed by chromebooks, teachers do not believe this is a problem.

“Naturally, every time my AVID students have their weekly tests, they’re not supposed to go to other websites,” said French and AVID teacher Karina Chin, who uses the chromebooks very often with her AVID students, “I don’t think it’s a distraction because they understand what the goal is and why they’re using them.”

At least 490 Chromebooks are currently in use at Sequoia amongst all departments.