Namaste: Being Mindful of Digital Distractions

My Response to Mr. Rheingold as an Educator:

Mr. Howard Rheingold is 72 years old and has grown up in an educational environment filled with hours of reading books, writing stories, and deep thoughts. He was not raised in an environment where parents provide their toddlers with cell phones instead of paperback books as a form of entertainment, where first graders are given iPads to use in school, and where teenagers are constantly on social media. Does he consider how the Internet will impact his grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Will his grandchildren have the same deep levels of concentration as he does? Hopefully, his progeny will be just fine because they will have educated, mindful parents who will monitor their children’s online activities, engage with them at home, provide them with rich and educational experiences, and enroll them in the best school districts.

Sadly, the reality is that there is an increase of children with Attention Deficit Disorder. There are also parents who are as obsessed with their phones as their children are. These parents are not mindful of their own technology use nor are they mindful of their children’s. These parents and their children are not reading books at home. They are reading their text messages and social media posts. So, it is left to the teacher to solve this problem by getting trained in Attention Training, Breathing Techniques, and Mindfulness so the students can focus on reading.

My Response to Mr. Rheingold as an Graduate Student:

I appreciate the research on the detrimental effect of multitasking in Chapter 1 “Attention! Why and How to Control Your Mind’s Most Powerful Instrument” (pgs. 35-70) in Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. Rheingold reports that social psychologist Clifford Nas’ study showed that “subjects’ performance on individual tasks degraded when they attempted to multitask”; furthermore, “most media multitasking is actually task-switching rapidly, not parallel switching, and this mental switching is more costly than anybody thinks.” In other words, multitasking requires the brain to stop one task abruptly, then start another task. From this description, it appears that the brain nears to shift from one gear to another gear, which may cause an unpleasant jolt. 

Consequently, there is a “cost” in refocusing our attention —  the brain needs to “expend precious time and energy” to “suspend one task” and start another task. It is “a temporary disruption” or “an attentional blink” in our brain. Furthermore, multitasking negatively impacts concentration since it takes more time and energy to “regain concentration on the central task” of reading, writing, and thinking. 

Think about: Do we want our dentist to concentrate on one central task of extracting our tooth or do we want our dentist to multitask by extracting our tooth and riding a hoverboard? What is the ‘cost’ here? 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/06/us/alaska-dentist-hoverboard-trial-trnd/index.html

What is the remedy to digital distractions? I agree with Mr. Rheingold in that we need to “Captain of our Attention Muscles” — in that, we need to be aware of our online activities so that it does not become a disruption. We need to monitor on screen time. We need to turn off our electronic devices before bed. We need to focus on our driving without texting. We, as educated adults, do not need to surrender to “digital distractions.” However, can young children and teenagers fight digital distractions? Do they have the same amount of self-control or self-awareness to fight “media-compulsive behavior”?

What are the societal consequences of a generation’s surrendering to media obsession? In his Atlantic essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr raises a valid point: “Digital networks cause us to develop habits that ultimately harm our brains and damage culture.” Although Rheingold disagrees with Carr’s claims, I believe that Carr’s claims cannot be dismissed. We need to conduct further longitudinal studies on how media multitasking impacts our brains, especially young children’s brains. Anecdotally, I do know that screen time has impacted my vision along with the students’ visions. It is painful for me to read fine print, even with my reading glasses.

And yes, I agree with Carr in that some young adults are  “losing capacity for sustained, focused attention” and “deeper analytic thought” that is needed in the field of English and Sciences. In our fast-paced, multimodal society, students may not be interested in the sustained amount of concentration needed in these disciplines. And technology has impacted reading scores. Research shows lower standardized reading test scores and SAT reading scores in New Jersey. (See article in the Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/education/naep-pennsylvania-new-jersey-student-test-results-20191101.html)

I do agree with Rheingold that this “shallow thinking” does not need to be inevitable. We need to be mindful of both the positive and negative effects of technology. Technology is here to stay, and we must confront it. Head on. 

Namaste.