Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction

[groovedaddy]

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — On the eve of a pivotal academic year in Vishal Singh’s life, he faces a stark choice on his bedroom desk: book or computer?

By all rights, Vishal, a bright 17-year-old, should already have finished the book, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” his summer reading assignment. But he has managed 43 pages in two months.

He typically favors Facebook, YouTube and making digital videos. That is the case this August afternoon. Bypassing Vonnegut, he clicks over to YouTube, meaning that tomorrow he will enter his senior year of high school hoping to see an improvement in his grades, but without having completed his only summer homework.

On YouTube, “you can get a whole story in six minutes,” he explains. “A book takes so long. I prefer the immediate gratification.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I have a Kindle on my iPod

And I can't wait till we have them at school.

Instead of complaining about the digital kids, we need to use the digital world to educate them. So give this kid a digital version of that Vonnegut book.

[Catshrink]

2. He still won't read it.

He'll prefer the youtube version because it's easier.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. We have a couple very good software programs for teaching basic skills

Other than the ridiculous expense, I love using them in my classroom.

[Catshrink]

4. For me, it's a matter of wouldn't rather than couldn't read.

[Reader Rabbit]

5. I wrote a paper on this for a neurobiology course.

I called it "techno-scattering." It's a very real problem. New media can and does alter the structure of our brains and the way they function.