Where to start? After watching Frontline's Distracted by Everything I have so many thoughts running through my head that it is hard to sort through them all. The main message of this documentary, in my view, is that advances in technology are progressing at a speed that may be hard to control and that may, potentially, harm the people of the world; mainly our youths.
Many say that this new media should be checked. Citizens, such as highly educated MIT Professor Sherry Turkle, believe that all the new media is causing students to multi- task a greater level than ever before and that this is affecting their learning ability and memory level. Then there is the whole South Korea issue. Youths in South Korea are running themselves into the ground at cafes that are strictly for cheap gaming. Kids have died in these places after playing games for too long with little food or water. Psychologists are calling gaming an addiction now and they even have created rehabs for them.
On the other hand we have those who are all for the advancement of technology. Some school principles are saying that instead of focusing on the negatives, that we should be adapting to the new ways of the world. Teacher's need to focus on how the children of today learn. If they learn through games and multi-tasking,and that is what keeps their attention, then teach them through games and multi-tasking. These people who favor progress in schools seem to believe that just because the learning style and brain patterns are changing does not mean that bad things are going to come. When the world switched from oral story telling to written story telling I'm sure that people predicted doom and gloom.
As for me I have mixed feelings on the subject. I was raised in an old fashioned manner, and believe in playing outside with friends and reading a good book. But while nothing can replace the enjoyment of being outside with friends, I have to wonder; how much difference is there really between a printed book and an on-line book? (I will always prefer printed text) And while my grandmother is lecturing about how in the old days everyone played outside as a community and now nobody interacts with anybody, will I one day be telling my grandchildren to get off their cyber space three-dimensional worlds because back in my day everybody came together on the internet and through cell phones?
Yes, the world is changing yet again and problems may arise from new media. Kids will neglect their homework (but haven't they always), they will sit for long periods of time on the computer, everyone will be addicted to their phones, and apparently kids will die from this. My question to you:
Where were the parents? Come on people, are we seriously going to blame technology for this stuff?
