With technology becoming innately connected to the classroom, many students find themselves attempting to multitask during class. But, according to research, multitasking may not be as effective as one might think. Ella Barnes has the story.
PICTURE THIS: YOU’RE SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR JOURNALISM 202 LECTURE. IT’S SILENT. YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP. EVERYONE IS TAKING NOTES ON THEIR COMPUTER, AND YOU HEAR,
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SOMEONE FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE VOLUME ON THEIR COMPUTER BEFORE THEY FINISHED THEIR NEW YORK TIMES MINI CROSSWORD INSTEAD OF PAYING ATTENTION DURING CLASS. EMBARASSING, AND SOMETHING THAT HAS TOTALLY NEVER EVER HAPPENED TO ME EVER.
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THE 21ST CENTURY BROUGHT NEW TECHNOLOGY INTO OUR LIVES AND SCHOOLS, AND ALONG WITH IT, NEW DISTRACTIONS. ON THE ONE HAND, BOTH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS NOW HAVE THE WHOLE INTERNET AT THEIR DISPOSAL ALLOWING FOR CLASSWORK AND ASSIGNMENTS TO BE ONLINE. THIS HAS GREATLY IMPROVED RESEARCH RESOURCES AND THE ACCECABILITY OF EDUCATION. TODAY, YOU CAN GET A COLLEGE DEGREE ONLINE.
ON THE OTHER HAND, THOUGH, HAVING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT YOU TO THE REST OF THE WORLD AT ALL TIMES PROVIDES UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISTRACTION. STUDENTS HAVE GAMES TO PLAY AND SOCIAL MEDIA TO SCROLL THROUGH THAT THEY CAN INSTEAD FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON INSTEAD OF COMPLETING CLASSWORK.
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[Abigail Lev] Hi, I’m Abigail Lev, I’m a first year from Long Island, New York.
MANY STUDENTS LIKE JOURNALISM MAJOR ABIGAIL LEV TURN TO THE NEW YORK TIMES’ GAMES SECTION FOR THEIR METHODS OF IN CLASS DISTRACTION.
[AL] I always play The New York Times spelling bee, my roommate and I actually have a little competition every day in which we go to our first class and try to see who can get genius first, and then if we’re struggling, we’ll text each other and be like, compare question mark, or can I get some help? Or anything like that? So I if I’m not paying attention in class, you can find me on the New York Times games website.
THEATRE MAJOR OLIVER TAM ALSO SAYS HE PLAYS GAMES TO KEEP HIMSELF OCCUPIED DURING CLASS.
[Oliver Tam] I play solitaire. I play chess. I play… what else do I play? I do crosswords? Those are the main three I’d say. I’d say those are the main three.
[Ella Barnes] Some might say those are more, like, educational-leaning games. Do you think is a reason you play those games specifically during class?
[OT] Yeah, it’s because I can, like, if I’m playing like a real game, I feel more invested in it, versus those games where it’s just sort of like something to do. And I can still kind of focus while it’s not like, completely like going off into a different world.
[EB] So do you feel you can like multitask and like, also pay attention while playing those games?
[OT] I would say I don’t have my full attention on the class, which I probably should but I don’t but I can have at least some amount of attention where I’m not going to be like I’m not even going to even remotely absorb anything that’s going on.
[EB] And do you think this has anything to do with like shortening attention spans?
[OT] Absolutely, absolutely. I didn’t do this before. Before I’d say like I don’t even know before I started like before, honestly like the rise of like Tiktok and Instagram reels and like all the YouTube shorts if you’re if you do that. And yeah, because once I started getting into that, and you know, the, the the attention the attention spans of people start getting shorter, mine included. I feel like I think that’s me being like under stimulated and wanting to like do something or multitask. So yeah.
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MULTITASKING IS A DANGEROUS PATH TO GO DOWN. HUMANS, IN FACT, ARE DESTINED TO BE MONOTASKERS. THIS MEANS THAT WE CAN REALLY ONLY FOCUS ON ONE THING AT A TIME. ACCORDING TO NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST CYNTHIA KUBU, QUOTE “WHEN WE THINK WE’RE MULTITASKING, MOST OFTEN WE AREN’T REALLY DOING TWO THINGS AT ONCE. BUT INSTEAD, WE’RE DOING INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS IN RAPID SUCCESSION, OR TASK-SWITCHING.”
ONE STUDY FROM PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN AND REVIEW FOUND THAT JUST 2.5% OF PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO MULTITASK EFFECTIVELY. FOR THE REST OF US, OUR ATTEMPTS TO DO MULTIPLE ACTIVITIES AT ONCE AREN’T ACTUALLY THAT.
ACCORDING TO ANOTHER STUDY FOUND IN MATER SOCIOMED, WHEN OUR BRAIN IS CONSTANTLY SWITCHING GEARS TO BOUNCE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN TASKS – ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE TASKS ARE COMPLEX AND REQUIRE OUR ACTIVE ATTENTION – WE BECOME LESS EFFICIENT AND MORE LIKELY TO MAKE A MISTAKE. SO, BOUNCING BETWEEN GAMES, SOCIAL MEDIA, TYPING UP NOTES, AND ACTUALLY PAYING ATTENTION IN CLASS IS NOT THE BEST METHOD OF LEARNING.
ACCORDING TO DR. GLORIA MARK, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND THE CHANCELLOR’S PROFESSOR OF INFORMATICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE, OUR ATTENTION SPANS HAVE BEEN SHORTENING FOR A LONG TIME. IN BOOK, “ATTENTION SPAN: A GROUNDBREAKING WAY TO RESTORE BALANCE, HAPPINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY,” MARK EXPLAINED HOW DECADES OF RESEARCH HAS TRACKED THE DECLINE OF THE ABILITY TO FOCUS.
“IN 2004, WE MEASURED THE AVERAGE ATTENTION ON A SCREEN TO BE 2½ MINUTES. SOME YEARS LATER, WE FOUND ATTENTION SPANS TO BE ABOUT 75 SECONDS. NOW WE FIND PEOPLE CAN ONLY PAY ATTENTION TO ONE SCREEN FOR AN AVERAGE OF 47 SECONDS,” SAID MARK.
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FRIGTENING INFORMATION.
SO, HOW CAN WE GET THAT ATTENTION SPAN BACK ON TRACK?
WELL, THERE’S A COUPLE OF WAYS.
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REGAINING YOUR FOCUS REQUIRES YOU TO BE MINDFUL OF HOW YOU ARE USING YOUR TECHNOLOGY, A DAUNTING ASK IF YOU CONSIDER THE AVERAGE AMERICAN SPENDS AT LEAST 10 HOURS A DAY ON SCREENS.
A STUDENT, FOR EXAMPLE, MIGHT COMBAT TECHNOLOGY USE BY PRINTING OUT THEIR READING ASSIGNMENTS INSTEAD OF READING THEM ON A SCREEN. THIS WAY, FULL ATTENTION CAN BE DEVOTED TO THE READING, AND THERE WON’T BE THE TEMPTATION TO CLICK AWAY TO ANOTHER TAB.
ANOTHER METHOD IN PARTICULAR THAT STUDENTS CAN TRY IN CLASS IS TO TAKE NOTES ON PAPER. THAT WAY, YOU FORCE YOURSELF TO ACTIVELY LISTEN TO YOUR PROFESSOR AND ACTUALLY TAKE NOTES SINCE THERE’S NO GAMES TO TAB AWAY TO.
PLUS, YOU WON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE EMBARASSMENT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES MINI CROSSWORD JINGLE PLAYING IN THE MIDDLE OF A LECTURE HALL.
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FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M ELLA BARNES.
