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The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

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Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#31

Post by jclardy »

Danihan wrote: post #24
jclardy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But would these supposed kids with "more potential" realize that potential given access to a smartphone during the time when they are being educated? I fail to see the use of a communications/entertainment device in a classroom unless it is part of the instruction. EDIT: Genuinely curious of your opinion, I grew up right before smartphones exploded when I was in college, so for me I see them more as a distraction fro…

> I fail to see the use of a communications/entertainment device in a classroom Then you aren't very creative. They could be searching for more context on the lesson, as an easy example. You wouldn't want to read more about the War of 1812 online if you were in the middle of a fairly tedious and plodding lecture about it?

Thanks for your generalization, but I'm actually here for constructive discussion and not personal attacks.

My question is how many kids are actually going to do that? And what justifies them to be the judge of whether what the teacher is discussing is relevant to them or not, given they are 10 years old.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#32

Post by dragontamer »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #22
pavel_lishin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But before phones, did those folks read books and do nothing? Or is it more likely that they watched football and soap operas on TV?

It's been awhile, but as I recall, people weren't watching football and soap operas everywhere, they couldn't. The modern equivalent is having those to go. That's not even taking into account addictions and misinformation.

No. People went to Bars (or horse racing tracks) and didn't go home for that.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#33

Post by [deleted] »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #4

I am terrified about giving smartphones to my kids. France's new rule (no smartphones in schools - no exceptions) is genius, and I applaud them for that. What is a supercomputer in your pocket, with access to a significant portion of the sum total of human knowledge, good for, for most people? Playing fucking candy crush. We wish that we, humans, were better, but we are not. So what can we do about it? I have no idea…

[deleted]

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#35

Post by Danihan »

jclardy wrote: post #31
Danihan wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I fail to see the use of a communications/entertainment device in a classroom Then you aren't very creative. They could be searching for more context on the lesson, as an easy example. You wouldn't want to read more about the War of 1812 online if you were in the middle of a fairly tedious and plodding lecture about it?

Thanks for your generalization, but I'm actually here for constructive discussion and not personal attacks. My question is how many kids are actually going to do that? And what justifies them to be the judge of whether what the teacher is discussing is relevant to them or not, given they are 10 years old.

Welp, you asked for my opinion. My opinion is that if you literally can't think of a valid use for the entire internet in a classroom setting, then you aren't trying very hard. It's tantamount to having a library at your fingertips.

* How about using an app to record the lecture, so a student can verify their notes later?

* How about taking a picture of the notes on the board, when they can't copy things down quickly enough?

* How about checking up on a sick relative using SMS, so they aren't feeling anxious about it all class?

I'm not even trying really -- there are dozens of valid use-cases that respect the preset curriculum. Let alone all of the uses that fall outside of respecting it, if and when the curriculum is too facile for the student.

Couldn't I have been learning programming during the time my high school English class was tackling "A Catcher in the Rye" one chapter per week, after I read the entire book within the first few hours we had it? Apparently not, because cell phones aren't allowed, and they can only used for Candy Crush.

>My question is how many kids are actually going to do that?

Not very many, and that's why most people will justify smartphones being taken away from all students. Which will primarily hurt the ones who were using them for more interesting purposes. Typical crab bucket mentality.

>And what justifies them to be the judge of whether what the teacher is discussing is relevant to them or not, given they are 10 years old.

I never said anything about whether the lessons were relevant, nor were ages brought up.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#37

Post by ohsonice »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #3

I think this thesis is correct but it ignores the good things you can do. I don’t think it is true for everyone . I like texting people or using a messaging service . Yesterday I hanged out with my friend to code I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t have a cell phone. Today I used my phone to aid in my work activities . Frequently I use my cell phone to write down notes about ideas during the day and learn new thing…

Is it appropriate to link this? Also from today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16093281

The first comment regarding the class divide of those who can be disciplined about distractions vs those who can't seems relevant to your comment.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#38

Post by vorotato »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #4

I am terrified about giving smartphones to my kids. France's new rule (no smartphones in schools - no exceptions) is genius, and I applaud them for that. What is a supercomputer in your pocket, with access to a significant portion of the sum total of human knowledge, good for, for most people? Playing fucking candy crush. We wish that we, humans, were better, but we are not. So what can we do about it? I have no idea…

Socrates felt the same way about books actually a lot of big thinkers in that era felt that writing and reading would lead to the degradation of the human memory. However the argument that kids shouldn't have books in school seems laughable. I would say they aren't wrong. Humans really can't remember entire books any more, but then they also don't need to.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#39

Post by cwyers »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #4

I am terrified about giving smartphones to my kids. France's new rule (no smartphones in schools - no exceptions) is genius, and I applaud them for that. What is a supercomputer in your pocket, with access to a significant portion of the sum total of human knowledge, good for, for most people? Playing fucking candy crush. We wish that we, humans, were better, but we are not. So what can we do about it? I have no idea…

Is the infrastructure in place to support this? I feel like the removal of payphones in public places makes me hesitant to support a smartphone ban of any sort. Yes, they shouldn't be in the classroom, but if students have them in their locker... I remember in junior high, my sister and I had a rather busy extracurricular schedule, and my mother couldn't always be counted upon to remember when events let out. Payphones were a good way to arrange transportation from various events. All those payphones are gone now.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#40

Post by jclardy »

always_good wrote: post #30
_m8fo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious to why you think not having a smartphone constitutes a punishment.

When I was in school, all I wanted to do was read the Sitepoint forums and learn more about HTML / CSS / PHP. I had one teacher that took me up on my offer to let me use the one class computer when my work was done and that's exactly what I did with it. Then other kids opted into my sweet deal and ended up ruining it by causing too much disturbance around it. Back then, I always resented the fact that it was more acc…

I think the problem isn't so much the technology, maybe it is just our general teaching methodology. I feel like in US schools we don't allow much room for self-learning inside the school itself, every class has a teacher and lesson plans, and not a lot of self-guidance. Personally I learned a lot on my own through high school that never would have been taught (z80 assembly to build games for the Ti-83.) I did most of that on my own, at home, rather than during class time for other essentially "irrelevant" courses. I think the main issue is what may seem unimportant to a child when they are a child, might end up being an important part of their life in the future. But they just don't know what they like or what they want to do when they are young, which is why we have general education courses.

Maybe if there were more opportunities for that it would be useful. But given the infinite amount of distractions a personal smartphone can provide I don't see how you can have 30 kids just doing whatever simultaneously and have a positive outcome for the majority.

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