Big Screen vs Small Screen

I often do some consulting and training work with a local college and I'm always interested in the students' attitudes towards technology.

Recently, I administered a computer test to around 150 students in batches of about 25. They would finish the test in under an hour and they had the rest of the hour to 'surf the internet peacefully' while the slower ones finished up the test.

So what surprised me was that even though they were sitting in front of a nice big screen, a good many of them pulled out their smartphones and browsed the internet on those instead.

It seems counter-intuitive to me, a big-screen fan. They preferred the smaller, more personalised internet experience to the larger more public one.

Other factors: Facebook was blocked on the desktops, as per the college policy, but I didn't see much Facebook use on their phones either. Also I'm quite sure many of their phones were new, so they may be in the gadget honeymoon phase - where they can't put it down for more than 5 minutes.