Technology is not the enemy

Over the past several months, The New York Times has been featuring an occasional series of articles under the title Your Brain on Computers. As the Times explains ‘Articles in this series examine how a deluge of data can affect the way people think and behave.’

This past Sunday, the paper devoted a staggering 120 column inches to the latest article in the series, called Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction. The article follows the pattern of many of the earlier contributions in suggesting that technology is undermining our ability to focus, and that our children in particular are paying a price for their constant exposure to digital media by exhibiting a diminished capacity for learning.

Much of Sunday’s article was devoted to the experience of one 17-year-old from Woodside High School in Redwood City, CA. After describing in great detail how the Internet and his aspirations as a film maker were seriously undermining his schoolwork, the article disclosed that his recent grades were still ‘mostly A’s and B’s.’

A couple of other children at Woodside High were also mentioned, including a 14-year-old girl who reportedly sends and receives 27,000 texts a month and a 14-year-old boy who plays video games for six hours a day. There were also numerous references to studies that suggest overexposure to technology could be conditioning our brains to multi-tasking and distraction, again weakening our ability to focus on the particular task at hand.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the article was the ‘us and them’ mentality adopted by some of the teachers at Woodside (and reinforced by the article’s author). In many cases, technology was seen not as an essential component of life in the 21st century, but rather as something alien and corrupting – something that gets in the way of the all-important task of learning.

Unfortunately, this just reinforces the stereotype that all technology enjoyed by our kids is a waste of time. There is no attempt to identify with technology as an important teen communication tool (texting, Facebook), an educational resource (the Internet, Wiki-tools), and as a pure entertainment medium (video gaming, iPods, etc.).

Happily, thousands of educators and millions of parents do realize the important role that technology plays in the lives of young people. They also realize that, like everything else our kids are exposed to, the use of technology needs to be monitored and controlled. The more we embrace technology rather than demonize it, the more we can begin to offer that support.

Should schools and educators embrace technology or is it just a distraction? Share your thoughts with The Online Mom!

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