Opinion | Too often, tech gadgets disrupt rather than aid learning
Kelly Yang says for all the benefits that technology provides, being too connected can, and often does, distract students from learning
The average 12-year-old today is fundamentally different from the average 12-year-old of 10 years ago, when I first started teaching. It's not just that they watch different movies or read different books. They multitask better on tech gadgets and, according to researchers, all that clicking, swiping and scrolling is taking its toll on the way children process information, read, write and learn.
From the huge glass panel that divides my office from our classrooms, I often sit and watch students. And I count. I count how many times the kids check their e-mail, their Facebook account, reply to a text, click on a link to a YouTube video, laugh at a clever joke on Twitter, or scroll through cute photos on Instagram - all while trying to work.
What I saw at first was this: kids would write two sentences, then switch to YouTube. Five minutes later, they'd write two more sentences, then go to Tumblr. On average, kids switched apps at least 20 times before they'd finished an essay - if you could call the few sentences strung together randomly an essay.
That's when I stopped counting and turned off the Wi-fi. Essentially, I turned laptops into typewriters.
My students looked at me like I had two heads. How are we supposed to e-mail our work to ourselves, they asked. I gave them a thumb drive. They said they needed to do research and add that into their writing. That's true, but was it worth having all those e-interruptions as well? The answer is no.
I understand the importance of research. But a larger danger looms: children are increasingly unable to do things without interruption. This gets worse the moment they have their own computers and phones. The way they write, read, and do homework fundamentally changes when they are bombarded with distractions.