After reviewing the article,“The Epidemic of Media Multitasking While Learning” By Annie Murphy Paul, it can be concluded that the author believes that most students cannot learn or do any homework related assignments without the usage of social media.With believing that most students cannot focus long enough on an assignment without using social media it provides evidence behind the author’s theory. Thus, with these certain types of studies it leads the author into believing that media multitasking shortens the focus of students in today’s society. Throughout the article, the author supports her main points by utilizing studies that proves her main point. By the author providing multiple examples of the research studies done on students …show more content…
The arguments that the author states are supported by solid research data. The research was conducted properly with proving the epidemic of media multitasking while learning. One of the studies carried out utilized human observers and had them stationed in the back of a classroom recording the technological activities of law students. In the study, “58 percent of second and third-year law students who had laptops in class were using them for “non-class purposes” more than half the time”(Paul 92). Another one of the studies that helped improve the strong feature of the author’s argument was the study where two professors found that most students engaged in multitasking while on their laptops including having non-course-related softwares up. Utilizing all of the studies provided throughout the article helps support and prove her main point. The author didn’t have any weak features of her argument. All of the studies that was stated supported her argument of students not being able to learn and do assignments properly without resisting the urge of checking their social media …show more content…
Brain and behavior plays an important role when it comes to this case study. Some of the different behaviors includes reticular activation system and the prefrontal cortex. In the textbook, reticular activation system was defined as, “consciousness and alertness” (Komarraju 43). While seeing that the consciousness and alertness plays a role when coming to this study of media multitasking it shows that the psychological process is somewhat represented when it comes to the decisions that the brain decides to make. Also in the textbook, it states that the prefrontal cortex comes into play when handling social judgment, The prefrontal cortex can be compared with the study used in the article when it comes to the whole idea of pre-planning ahead and decision making when it comes to the learning environment. While some of the things that I learned in the course that went against the arguments included the somatic nervous system. In the textbook the somatic nervous system is defined as, “control voluntary behavior” (Komarraju 42). The actions that were done by the students in the studies were clearly involuntary because it was not done in the form where the individual would have the
As human beings, it is becoming more of a second nature to us to multi-task. As the world is technologically advancing more and more every day, there are becoming more distractions. Social-media is flourishing, reality TV show ratings are going up, and humans even unintentionally check their phones every two minutes. In this day of age, multi-tasking is proving to promote inefficiency rather than productivity.
I have always found ways of doing my homework assignments while doing something else; mainly due to the fact that I am bored or not totally engaged with the subject. I feel the need to fill the empty space that was revolving around in my mind. When I went to high school there were not any type of digital distractions allowed; we had complete and total silence while completing assignments at school. However, when we got home we turned on the latest episode of “Home Improvement” and did our homework with our TV dad Tim Allen. This was a favorite distraction back then, now the cell phones have become a constant in our lives. “Given that these distractions aren’t going away, academic and even professional achievement may depend on the ability to ignore digital temptation while learning” (Paul 720). I have not owned a cell phone in over five years; even though I do not own one, I have seen numerous people in the classroom setting pop in and out of their messages and social networks. I thought to myself while seeing this, how are people focusing on the assignment before them? I still don’t get it but to each their
In the chapter “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” from The New Brain, written by Richard Restak, Restak makes some very good points on his view of multitasking and modern technology. He argues that multitasking is very inefficient and that our modern technology is making our minds weaker. Multitasking and modern technology is causing people to care too much what other people think of them, to not be able to focus on one topic, and to not be able to think for themselves.
...ing their homework assignment and last but least the word processing system helps students who have to write up papers. There are many ways effects that social media has on students not concentrating on age group. According to the in class survey “all eighteen respondents think that social media may have at least some negative effects on some student’s, especially the general effect of distracting them”. There are many reasons but the two main reasons are first of all they can create problems both politically and socially, and the second reason is that they should be only paying attention to their studies. Social media can sometimes effect interfere with the students ability to communicate face to face. According to the survey, the Millennial’s in the class think that their generation will be remembered for their use of social technology and digital technology.
Students may easily lose their attention and concentration with easy access to such incredibly rich store of information. With such new technologies as television, internet and social networks, people nowadays tend to multitask more often as they have easy access to a large amount of information. However, such easy access may sometimes be a distraction. Study “Your Brain on Computers” reports that heavy multitaskers perform up to 20% worse on most tests compared to performance of light multitaskers. Working efficiency of people, who multitask, is claimed to be significantly lower. The same is with concentration. (Crovitz 353) As a result, they are not engaged in working process. Students tend to be easily distr...
Christine Rosen, editor of The New Atlantis and the author of “The Myth of Multitasking,” explains how technology in the modern world has allowed people the ability to constantly multitask, at the same time, exposing the human body to negative long-term effects of the body. Nowadays, people are constantly on the run trying to finish their daily tasks. In order for this to happen, they multitask in order to accomplish their activities. Not only do humans incorporate multitasking in their own lives, they also are found doing this at their jobs. Jobs require their workers to multitask especially through the use of technology. Aditionally, multitasking has been known to be dangerous in the work field as well as while driving. Workers are found to be worn down by intense multitasking. Because of this, people should minimize the use of multitasking in order to avoid health problems. Furthermore, research has been conducted on multitasking by fMRI scans to find out the effects multitasking has on the brain. The effects that were found is memory loss caused by stress through multitasking. In addition, research has also shown that people have a hard time learning while multitasking, therefore, they learn less. Due to this reason, children is greatly impacted because constant
In the article, “Why I Just Asked my Students to Put Their Laptops Away,” by Clay Shirky, he explains that the reason he does not allow the use of technology in his classroom is because pop-ups or Facebook alerts are distracting to the students. Instead, they have class discussions and are able to stay focused on the topic and their ideas and conversations flourish. He believes that the use of devices and being distracted with personal alerts or interesting, not relative advertisements is like drunken multitasking.
Matt Richtel’s article, “Growing Up Digital, Wired For Distraction,” validates that the point is technology is becoming a huge distraction with students and is seriously affecting them and their school. In the first section of the article Ritchel makes it clear that the point is that students attention spans are becoming smaller and smaller because their overuse of technology is distracting them. The author says in the first section of the article, “Growing Up With Gadgets,” that, “half of students from 8 to 18 are using the Internet, watching TV or using some other form of media either “most” (31 percent) or “some” (25 percent) of the time that they are doing homework.” This survey taken from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that technology is distracting many students
Multitasking requires that a worker divides his/her time and energy on multiple tasks at the same time. As a result, the care and attention to detail is divided. The amount of focus that could be used to review one assignment is split. In an experiment, Patterson (2017) discovered that students who studied while participating in media multitasking took longer to complete tasks in their classes. This experiment addresses media multitasking in the case of students. While it is not a type of multitasking we normally consider, it does involve performing multiple tasks at one. Instead of putting all of their focus on their assignments, these students’ attention is on the assignment and on their social media. The results of the experiment prove that it when placed in scenarios where people are required to focus on multiple things, it takes more time to complete certain tasks. In this instance, media multitasking caused a decrease in performance. In another experiment, Paridon and Kaufmann (2010) made an observation when studying multitasking in the workplace, stating that people’s reaction time diminished when multiple tasks were completed at once. The believe that multitasking affects people’s performance has also been proven to be true in the workplace, as the speed of people’s production when down when required to complete multiple tasks. Performance can be determined by the speed in which a task is completed.
An example of Mokhtari’s idea is shown here; some people also cannot immediately restate what the might have just read, indicating our attention is elsewhere almost constantly. Another finding states that people who spend long amounts of time on the internet spend less time socializing with friends and family members. However, there is a contradiction to this, studies have also found that people use the internet to finish tasks quickly and free up time to spend on other activities. This contradiction, or the “displacement hypothesis” may play a part in how the study of college students goes. Very few studies have been done to address the issue of how media affects reading habits affects college-aged students.
Multitasking with non-course material results in a student’s attention being diverted from the course material that is being taught. This can result in errors in memory for the student and also a more difficult time learning the information outside of the classroom (Kraushaar & Novak, 2010, p.1). The University of Vermont completed a study in order to determine the impacts of multitasking with a laptop during a university lecture. Through the experiment they were able to determine that “students with a high [and long] frequency of software multitasking during lectures will exhibit lower academic performance than students with a low [and short] frequency of software multitasking” (Kraushaar & Novak, 2010, p.6). This shows that repeated and lengthy multitasking with technology in particular laptops during lecture times can cause extremely negative results in a students academic performances and
Social network sites is often an easy distraction tool disturbing you when you are supposed to be doing your homework or studies. Many students believe they are capable of multitasking and finishing their work with cohesive and logical connections. Netherlands psychologist Paul A. Kirschnera of the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies at the Open University of the Netherlands and Aryn C. Karpinskib of Ohio State University conducted a study examining 219 U.S. university students. Kirschnera found that Facebook users typically had a grade point average of 3.06 while non-users had a grade point average of 3.82. Kirschnera states that he isn’t trying to demonize Facebook, but demonstrate the distracting nature of social network sites (Daily Mail). Students fail to complete their studies and/or homework with cohesive thought because some students give themselves a limit in completing work instead of completing the work as a whole. In the Frontline documentary film Digital Nation, Rachel Dretzin says the following in front of a small group of s...
Cell phones may be the top of devices those distract students in class. The ubiquitous problem originates from the cell phones. I’m also a high school student, I can see some of my classmates use it for texting every day in class instead of listening to the teacher. Students also use it for playing video games, listening to music, watching videos. And definitely, while you are playing with your phones, you will not be able to absorb the lesson that the teacher is trying to teach. It’s not easy to do two things at the same time, except you are super. Have you ever tried to draw a circle by your left hand and draw a rectangle by the other hand simultaneously? When you do two things or more at the same time, your brain will just focus on one thing and naturally ignore the other. As Peter Bregman wrote in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network that multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%, increase stress and cause a 10-point fall in IQ.
To begin, there have been many speculations about social media and how the effects it has on grades. Stated by Lomeli, “some students would rather Facebook then do their homework. There is a lot of time lost due to social media”. As Lomeli said, "some students spend six to eight hours per day on social media, such as Facebook, while completing their homework. Doing work and using a social media at the same is a huge distraction. “Students who use social media had an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social networking si...
Students involved in activities on social media sites during the study resulted in a reduction in their focus of attention. This causes a decrease in their academic performance, and concentration to learn as well.