As students at CSU, we are no strangers to what it means to be a “broke college student.” We have to be meticulous in the way we handle our money. Even worse, we have to make a decision on what we want to spend our last $20 on.

However, a new app called Pocket Points can help you feel a little better when you decide to eat out with friends. Pocket Points is an app that encourages students with rewards when they lock their phones during class.

These rewards include deals and discounts to a multitude of different restaurants on or around campus. Some of these include, Subway, Pizza Hut, Jamba Juice, Chick-fil-A, Buffalo Wild Wings, and about twelve other college student favorites.

I spoke with freshman nutrition and food science major Andrea Villasenor who realizes that she needs to be incredibly careful with how she spends her money.

“I think Pocket Points is a great way to get people off their phones and really focus in their classes,” she says.

Villasenor loves the fact that it gives students a reason to stay off of their phones so that they can focus on their academics all while earning a more “luxurious” meal.

Even though this app may seem perfect, it does have a few faults. One being that the app can be pretty confusing. It does not specify how you actually get the deals at the restaurants; it just shows the deals that you can get with the amount of points you have acquired. Another issue is that students often forget that they need to open the app in order to earn points. When walking into a potentially stressful class, an app is the last thing on a student’s mind.

Despite its downsides, the app does have its benefits. Pocket Points does an excellent job of taking away a tech-savvy, college student’s distractions while in class.

A recent study done by the University of Nebraska shows that students spend an average of 21 percent of their class time on their phones for an unrelated activity. This app can possibly take away that urge to go on your digital devices and really focus on what you are learning.

Education is one of the most essential and important aspects of modern life. Having the opportunity to further your education is a great privilege. Pocket Points not only targets the “broke college student” audience, but it also targets a young audience who requires a means to encourage them to power down their digital devices.