While the sources consulted for this post admit that there have
been no conclusive, long term studies completed that point to a permanent
detrimental effect, they offer some direction in addressing students every
increasing dependency on electronics. It
appears that how much of a problem exists depends upon a person’s (employer,
teacher, student, or parent) perspective and what role they see education playing.
Facts
· Dr. Christakis finds that a heavy use of
technology “makes reality by comparison uninteresting” (2012 p. 1).
· “Seeking out high-quality media
content for young people and setting limits on how much time is spent with
media are two good places to start addressing all of these issues” (Postal,
2012 p. 1).
· Students asked to give up media for 24
hours had the following symptoms (Vidyarthi, 2011):
o
Phantom phone vibrations
o
Reaching for a phone that isn’t there
o
Fidgeting and restlessness
· 45% of 430 employers are improving
employees grammar and other skills through training programs while others are
not hiring individuals unless they pass spelling and grammar tests
(Shellenbarger, 2012).
Perspective
Who is looking at this issue depends on whether it is seen as a
problem. Parents, employers, and
teachers alike are able to give anecdotal testimony to the fact that students
are more often distracted, tuned out to society around them, and addicted to
their electronics. Conversely, some of
those same individuals admit to the possibility of those same students multi-tasking,
focused, and yes, addicted to their electronics. Students, appear to not be too caught up in
the argument as long as they get to keep their electronics. No matter how they
are using the technology, students must be taught responsibility through
instruction and modeling. A good place
to start is by addressing the impact on a student’s ability to focus for long
periods of time.
Attention Span
Classroom teachers now face a population that, for the most part is
accustomed to receiving news in 140 character bites and watching videos that
only last 10 minutes (Vidyarthy, 2011). Many
teachers believe that while this ever increasing use of media has increased students’ ability to find information quickly
and multi-task more effectively, it has also hurt their attention span and worsened their
writing skills (Postal, 2012). In
addition, many teachers who were interviewed feel as if they are working harder
to hold students attention or as 14 year veteran Hope Molina Porter says, “I’m
an entertainer. I have to do a song and
dance to capture their attention” (Richtel, 2012 p. 1). A person does not have to speak to too many
teachers to hear that more and more students seem to be more forgetful or want
things done for them. This observation
bolsters the idea that a growing number of teachers are starting to question if
they are part of the problem for adjusting their lessons to accommodate students’
inability to focus.
The fact is that every time we
start a new task our brain has to reorient itself and the internet and media is
designed to distract by keeping us moving from task to task. A few interesting findings from these studies
that attest to this:
· The average office worker checks his
email inbox nearly once every 1.5 minutes.
· 700 billion minutes are spent on
Facebook every month.
· 500,000 people join Twitter every day.
· Social media:
o
Causes a release (and spike in active
participants) of Oxytocin, a hormone that stimulates trust and empathy.
o
Causes sufficient, sudden changes in
environment to trigger releases of adrenaline.
o
Tends to drop the level of stress
hormones when being used.
Education
Being saturated with media seems to have a mixed effect on students’
education. The largest negative is that
students are now appearing to lose the ability to fight through tough academic
problems when an easy answer eludes them (Richtel, 2012). This is due to the familiarity of basic answers being "one click" away. An unfortunate by-product of this is what seems to be a decline in
critical thinking skills, the depth and analysis of
their written work writing skills, and the ability to communicate face
to face. Conversely, some educators believe
that being as proficient with media as many students are helps them be more self-sufficient
researchers. There was also a belief
that students today are just as capable of those higher level thinking skills
once they are engaged. The problem is
that often engagement is confused with entertainment.
Conclusion
We need to decide and act.
Is education about entertaining or learning? Where does the difference lie between engaged
and entertained? One issue is certain. Times have changed when it comes to
technology and access to information.
Therefore, schools need to work with parents and students by educating
each other on the good uses of technology. Teachers need to educate concerning how technology can assist and deepen
learning. Parents need to understand
that what is done at home affects the end result in school and students; well,
students can have their electronic devices, but they need to remember something. They are students and need to continue
learning by being attentive, responsible, and understanding that answers
without meaning are as useless as…no internet and a single rotary phone (with a
cord) on a wall in the kitchen. In short, we all
need to take stock of how often, where, and when we are attached to media and use it to its full potential rather than its entertainment value alone.
Sources
Cited:
Postal, L.
(2012, November 2). Entertainment media hurts students attention span, writing
skills, teachers say in new survey . Orlando Sentinnel. Retrieved
from
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2012/11/entertainment-media-hurts-students-attention-span-writing-skills-teachers-say-in-new-survey.html
Richtel, M.
(2012, November 1). Technology changing how students learn, teachers say. New
York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-changing-how-students-learn-teachers-say.html?pagewanted=all
Shellenbarger,
S. (2012, September). Career advice for you and i and me. The wall
street journal: Classroom edition, p. 14.
Vidyarthi, N.
(2011, December 14). Attention spans have dropped from 12 minutes to 5
minutes — how social media is ruining our minds . Retrieved from
http://socialtimes.com/attention-spans-have-dropped-from-12-minutes-to-5-seconds-how-social-media-is-ruining-our-minds-infographic_b86479
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