Some Ohio University students are forced to send a few quick text messages or make a last-minute phone call before stepping into some of their classrooms, because their professors limit technology use.
However, according to two recent studies, there is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of technology is hampering their attention spans and is creating a distracted generation.
The first was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, a division of the Pew Research Center; the second is from a Common Sense Media Research Study, a nonprofit educational organization in San Francisco.
In the Pew survey, which was conducted in conjunction with the College Board and the National Writing Project, about 90 percent of 2,462 teachers surveyed said that digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.”
Eugene Geist, an associate professor in early childhood education at OU, said that he thinks technology isn’t hampering students’ attention spans, calling it a myth.
“I don’t think it makes people easily distracted, and I just think that what we have is a lot more information that demands our attention so it means that our attention is split between all these different things that we need to attend to,” Geist said. “I just think that we need to prioritize.”
Jan Palmer, a retired associate professor of economics, requires all 198 students in his microeconomics class to power off all of their devices before beginning lectures.
“I ask students to turn off electronics before class so I have their undivided attention, because there is nothing that they would gain by having the electronics on because I’m not using any software that allows them to follow the lecture with their cellphones or their computers,” Palmer said. “If the technology being used is not part of the course, it is absolutely a distraction.”
Some students such as Ashley Dexter, a sophomore studying athletic training, leave their laptops at home so they won’t get distracted in class.
“If I would have my computer, I know I wouldn’t be able to focus and I would get on the Internet instead of paying attention in class,” Dexter said. “I also get distracted by my cellphone, but I can’t leave that at home.”
Of the 685 K-12 teachers surveyed in the Common Sense project, 71 percent said they thought technology was hurting attention spans “somewhat” or “a lot.”
Matt Brody, a senior at OU studying media management, said he gets distracted by games and text messaging on his cellphone during class but still finds technology necessary.
“I for sure get distracted, but I think computers are necessary in college classrooms today,” Brody said.
Geist said he compares student’s constant surfing and text messaging to doodling.
“There are times when I tell students ‘OK, put the phone down’ so I can talk to them, but if I am lecturing for an hour and students are on their phones, I don’t know if they are listening,” Geist said. “But it’s their time; I don’t get my feelings hurt.”
bc822010@ohiou.edu
