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The key point: > Seeing as the great majority of students spend over 80% of their digital device time using these tools to multitask, the automatic response fo
by svieira 2y ago
The key point:
> Seeing as the great majority of students spend over 80% of their digital device time using these tools to multitask, the automatic response for a great majority of students using these tools has become multitasking.. Unfortunately, when we attempt to employ digital devices for learning purposes, this primary function quickly bleeds into student behavior.
> This is why, when using a computer for homework, students typically last fewer than 6 minutes before accessing social media, messaging friends, and engaging with other digital distractions. This is why, when using a laptop during class, students typically spend 38 minutes of every hour off-task. This is why, when getting paid as part of a research study to focus on a 20-minute computerized lesson, nearly 40% of students were unable to stop themselves from multitasking. It’s not that the students of today have abnormally weak constitutions; it’s that they have spent thousands of hours training themselves to use digital devices in a manner guaranteed to impair learning and performance. It’s also that many of the apps being run on those devices were carefully engineered to pull young people away from whatever they were doing.
> And perhaps this is the key point: I’m not saying that digital technologies can’t be used for learning; in fact, if these tools were only ever employed for learning purposes, then they may have proven some of the most important academic inventions ever. The argument I’m making is that digital technologies so often aren’t used for learning that giving students a laptop, tablet, or other multi-function device places a large (and unnecessary) obstacle between the student and the desired outcome. In order to effectively learn while using an unlocked, internet-connected multi-function digital device, students must expend a great deal of cognitive effort battling impulses that they’ve spent years honing - a battle they lose more often than not. (of course schools do often try to implement blockers and restrictions, but this opens up an eternal cat-and-mouse struggle, and the mice are very good at finding ways to evade the cat.)
- crimsoneer 2y agoThe interesting follow-up here... there is no reason these effects should be restricted to children. Like, if children can't learn with devices in a classroom, it suggests executives can't learn in an office (and might give a hint as to why we haven't seen expected productivity benefits driven by it). But again, if the effect was this strong, I'd really expect to see broader evidence (even just at a national level based of digital uptake).
- Mathnerd314 2y agoThese authors have big Google Docs of evidence, https://jonathanhaidt.com/reviews/ https://jonathanhaidt.com/reviews/. But if you read it, you will see the effect is (AFAICT) limited to certain populations. There is a significant fraction of students that do have trouble with executive function and staying on task and will fail to do their homework because of social media access. Then there are the other students that have no trouble staying off social media when they have to do homework.
- j45 2y agoPart of this is because the pre-frontal cortex (associated with logic, will power, discipline, focus, etc) doesn't finish developing until about age 25. Until then, folks can be reliant on the adults in their environments older than that age, if they haven't built up some abilities. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3621648/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3621648/
- parpfish 2y agoi'd love to have a distraction-proof workstation that would force me into my IDE or whatever design doc i'm working on and block out everything else. but it's not possible because the job requires all these gateway-drugs-to-distraction to be on the forefront of your workspace: * keep slack open in case you're needed in that support thread * keep a browser open so you can google the api docs for something (that's how i ended up here right now) * keep spotify playing in the background so you can drown out the noise of the open office/work-from-home-noise
- cwoolfe 2y agoThis is possible! https://www.techlockdown.com/ https://www.techlockdown.com/
- forgetfreeman 2y agoThere have been consistent reporting for two decades that screens are leading to measurable reductions in attention span. Three decades of reports linking the internet and digital culture with mental health issues. What evidence is missing?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ookblah 2y agoReally jarring reading that. I think I was in middle school when the AOL and the "internet" to me became a thing (lol) and sure there was a lot of time wasting stuff (chatrooms, games, etc.) but there was a huge huge field of just exploration and learning. I cut my tech teeth on that; minimal parent supervision, no gamifying or artificial motivators, just my curiosity. I feel for kids nowadays. It was the wild west back then, everything was basically unrestricted and nobody had any clue of the consequences, but we didn't have companies actively trying to addict us to stuff. No idea what the answer is.