For the last three days, I’ve been attending the Learning and the Brain Conference sponsored by Johns Hopkins University. Almost one thousand individuals in education-related fields from all over the country have come to Crystal City to learn about the latest brain research from the world’s leading neuroscientists and psychologists. This year’s conference title, “Web-Connected Minds: How Technology Transforms Brains, Teaching and Attention”, is of tremendous interest to me as an educator and more so as a parent. I have questions like:
“Are our kids’ brains different because of their attachment to technology?”
“What are the long-term effects of technology on our kids?”
“Is technology causing our kids to have shorter attention spans?”
The bottom line is that neuroscientists have just begun to study the long-term effects of iPads, iPods, texting, Facebook, YouTube, video games and basically anything with a screen. Through my next few blog postings, I hope to consolidate some of the newest research from this conference.
The first keynote I attended on Friday was given by Larry Rosen, PhD, from California State University. Here are some of the basic take-aways from his talk:
- Although our brain only weighs two pounds, it uses 25% of our energy. It’s a myth that we use only 10% of our brain.
- Functional MRIs (performing a task during an MRI) have found that thinking about something actually activates more (and different) parts of the brain than hearing, speaking, and seeing.
- Our kids are thinking all day long…about technology.
- There are two types of distractors during learning: internal and external.
- Thinking is an internal distraction. Kids may be contemplating, “I wonder if anyone “liked” the photo of me water skiing.” A common internal distractor is Facebook. In fact, every one out of five page views on the internet is of Facebook. More on external distractors later.
- Rosen says our kids are suffering from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). When they don’t have their phone in hand, they are panicked that they’re missing out on something important. Yet when we take their technology away, it actually creates more anxiety. When kids are in FOMO mode, they are not fully available for learning.
- Solution? Tech breaks. Allow your child to have his or her phone during homework. It can be on the table, just turned over (out of sight, out of mind does not apply to this generation when it comes their phones). Students should work for 15 minutes, and then take a one-minute tech break. This one-minute break greatly relieves anxiety and kids are better able to focus.
- There is no such thing as multi-tasking. The brain actually quickly shifts from one task to another. When kids are doing many things at once such as texting, looking at Facebook on their laptop, and reading a text book, they are not doing any one thing accurately.
- When they are working on many things at once, including homework, they prolong the amount of time they must spend on their assignments.
- This makes sense to us as adults, but studies show kids think they can work just as efficiently in this manner. A good solution is a tech break.
In addition, Dr. Rosen described characteristics of the iGeneration (born 1990-1999). They:
- Are more liberal.
- Are more idealistic.
- Are more socially connected. Their #1 vehicle is Facebook.
- Think have a strong desire to be entrepreneurs and believe they can succeed.
- Have a strong work ethic when they can focus. The problem is that they cannot focus well because of so many distractors inherent in their environment.
More on technology’s impact on focus and attention in my next blog from the Learning and the Brain Conference.
I’d love to hear your comments or questions! Please post below.
Ann Dolin, M.Ed. — President — EC Tutoring