Are You Distracted by Technology? essay
Nowadays technology entered all spheres of human life and contributed to significant changes in these spheres. Communications were dramatically reshaped by technology: the availability of social networks, video games and various smartphone and computer applications allows to stay connected 24/7 and to construct own virtual world in the most convenient way. Despite numerous advantages, active use of technology also has some notable disadvantages such as excess flow of information and frequent distractions damaging the ability to concentrate. Multitasking which is so common for all technology-related activities also alters the ability to focus on particular tasks and reinforces patterns of brain activity which are different from less technology-involved generations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the distracting impact of technology and long-term consequences of this impact.
The role of technology in educational sphere and in information processing is invaluable; for example, technology changed the way of conducting research for students, made research findings more accessible and comprehensive for students and eased access to information in general. At the same time, mental habits of multitasking and staying online in social networks and messengers have a negative impact on the ability of students to process information, to concentrate on particular sources and to establish analytical connections between different sources of information. According to Prakash (2012), 87% of teachers note that students of the “wired” generation have shorter attention spans and 64% of teachers admit that technology is rather distracting students than helping their academic success.
The way how information is presented and shared nowadays encourages people to focus on key concepts and sentences and skim the meaning of the messages. These skills are needed in order to navigate through multiple sources of information and multiple messages received from these sources. Communications in social networks and messengers are also brief and are restrained either to sharing some information (links, photos, videos, etc.) or to exchanging short messages. Twitter actually embodies the essence of current communications – 140 symbols might be enough for average information exchange activities. Furthermore, the availability of internet connection almost anywhere allows to stay online and receive updates at any time.
The specifics of technology described above leads to shortening of attention spans; frequent checks of updates in various networks create distractions, and the need to stay updated and to know all the latest news hinders long-term concentration and affects the quality of activities which require thoughtful approach. Furthermore, kids who grow up in the conditions of information overload have difficulties in mastering time management and attention management. While for older adults who already have mastered time management it is easier to avoid distractions when needed, kids might not be able to develop the right skills and traits due to challenging environment.
According to Rosen (2012), observation of the ability to concentrate of students of various age (middle school, high school and university) revealed alarming trends. The students had to study something important for 15 minutes, and their behaviors and distractions were observed during that time. The average time span that students spent on the task without distracting was 3 minutes (Rosen n.d.). This result was similar for all age categories of students. The major sources of distraction were technology sources such as laptops and smartphones (Rosen n.d.). These results show that the impact of technology is similar on all age categories. Furthermore, the researchers explored the relationship between academic performance and distractions, and it turned out that students who consumed more information and media every day and were prone to multitasking had worse results. Students who were able to work longer on a specific task and developed focused study strategies showed better results (Rosen n.d.).
Another study focused on the types of distractions which have the most impact on young people. It appeared that the choice of “favorite” distraction depended on psychosocial characteristics of an individual (Richtel n.d.). The students with a need for socializing tended to engage in texting, communicating in social networks and sending instant messages; the students who wanted to escape from the society chose video games and those students who had a tendency to procrastinate surfed various websites, watched videos and sometimes shared links with others (Richtel n.d.). Therefore, technology allows to choose the types of distractions that are most appropriate for an individual. In any case, the results of the research show that technology is a universal distraction and that active use of technology for entertainment can affect academic or working performance.
Evidence shows that technology is a powerful distraction for most people. Active use of telecommunications leads to multitasking, reduces performance and attentiveness, affects attention spans and the ability to concentrate. While working with multiple sources of information might develop flexibility and short-term involvement, it is necessary to avoid excess multitasking and being distracted by technology since it can reduce the efficiency of in-depth thinking activities. In this context, it is important to remain focused in the modern world and to train the ability to concentrate on important things instead of switching between various distractions.
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