Laptops in Class

Gotta say, I don't really see a laptop as being any more distracting than a PowerPoint presentation--you pay more attention to the PowerPoint than to whatever the professor is babbling. If someone wants to play on the web during lecture, let them; it's rude, but it doesn't hurt the rest of the class. As for missing out on social interaction, what social interaction? I'm in a chemistry lecture with 250 students, the most we interact is when I ask someone a question before class; my upper level anthropology classes aren't any better--30 students in a room being talked to by a professor or TA. Nope, no interaction. Large universities aren't made for interaction; small colleges, now those are different. I went to a (very) small college my freshman year. At Wilson, your professor was going to know your name, they were going to know what your weaknesses and strengths were; most professors wanted you to interact and add to the class, sometimes it was required. Yeah, at Wilson a laptop would have been distracting. But at big public schools, not so much.
God, there are days I can't describe how much I miss Wilson.