Almost everything that I saw in the movie Wired for Distraction applied to my life and the life of my high school classmates. It seems to me that every night I am up until 10:30 or 11:00 doing homework, and the main reason for that is probably Facebook and YouTube. Tonight I tried to isolate myself as much as I could from media multitasking and procrastination and found that I finished my homework three hours earlier than I usually do.
Unlike some of the teens in the film we watched, I don't have an unlimited texting plan, which keeps me from being attached to my phone 24/7. But for those who can text whenever they want, I can only imagine how tempting it is to communicate with your friends rather than doing schoolwork. Video games, the other issue that was discussed doesn't apply to me as much because the only game system I have is an old PlayStation 2, which basically just collects dust.
The one thing I can tell you about for sure is that Facebook does distract people, and not only because it takes you away from your work initially. Once you start to think about what your friends are doing as you read miscellaneous posts, it becomes harder and harder to think about your work, because there are now other things on your mind, even if the web browser is closed.
I think the issues of Vishal Singh and other American teens are very important and need to be considered. Hopefully, teens can understand that excessive media use is a problem, and can find a way to cut down without being told to do so by other people. The reason that I find it a big issue is because I honestly believe that it does make our brains less focused. The more and more kids find instant gratification, the less patient they will be when they have to search for answers that do not involve Google or Wikipedia. YouTube, especially, makes finding entertainment extremely easy, and with so many choices, you can get caught up and find yourself watching video after video after video.
It was really interesting to see some of the problems that I face shown in the film, and it convinced me, at least for the moment, to cut down on my media use, especially multitasking. To read the full article on the New York Time's website, click here. For the video, click here.
Excellent response Raffi. It's wonderful that you are really starting to reflect on your own media use. Facebook is a huge distraction for me when I am doing my homework for grad school. I get sucked into a bubble, which seems important and interesting at the time. However, it is an "unproductive" bubble which is sometimes hard to avoid. I have friends that started deleting their Facebook account for these reasons. I haven't gone to that extreme....YET.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving. Ms. V