I think it's a distraction. Students in our high school classes are often clicking off to sites that have nothing to do with the lesson. To make matters worse, some are playing games. When trying to play games even more attention is lost to the teacher than mindlessly reading or looking at pictures on social media.
I read the article and I do agree with it. I am a pen/highlighter and paper type of person. I even had classes where my notes were grades. It was to my benefit that I didn't mind writing them and then typing them neatly for the teacher. This helped me to study and incorporate review of information.