Education
Technology in schools, like iPads and smartboards, has changed how students learn, making it more interactive and personalized. But this shift also brings challenges, such as shorter attention spans, distractions from social media, and less face-to-face interaction.
While tech boosts engagement and access to resources, it also raises concerns like health risks from too much screen time, reduced critical thinking, and privacy issues. Our interviews showed the need for teachers to balance the benefits of tech with its potential downsides.
Teachers interviewed reflect on the technology use within their own classroom and explain how they have experienced changes in their students from the effects of screen overuse outside of school. Concerns about distraction, lack of focus and creativity, comfortability problems in critical thinking situations, plagiarizing, having to reteach students how to find normalcy within face-to-face interactions, and much more were brought up by several teachers across the Northeast region of the US.
Teacher Experiences
"It is hard to foster curiosity when they can simply say, 'Hey Siri, tell me about...'"
"A child that does not have as much access to technology is more active, able to converse comfortably, and confident during social interactions."
"Many of the children in my classes struggle to stay focused for more than 30 seconds."
The 23-Minute Rule
This concept is a newly occurring problem within the youth classrooms due to the exposure of television shows and students' lack of attention spans. The average length of a children's television show is 23 minutes and many elementary and middle school teachers have expressed their frustration of having to incorporate the loss of focus after about 23 minutes of a lesson plan. After the allotted time, youth students tend to not listen to their teacher, fidget, or oftentimes, get bored of what they may be learning. Teachers have incorporated physical activity breaks within their classrooms to regain the focus of their students.
Infographic3 : Jenna Devens
Infographic 4: Jenna Devens
