I Love Technology?

I always find “Touchscreen” by Marshall Davis (Soulful) Jones to be timely, even though technology keeps changing at a rate that leaves me standing on the curb thumbing for a ride. I willingly acknowledge that I am a digital immigrant. Despite my nerdy desire to program computers back in sixth grade, not much tech comes naturally to me. Just ask my own children or my students. However, lately, I am not quite sure if I want anyone speeding down the digital freeway to stop and give me a lift into the future.

(Taken from redbubble.com)

This is not a tech-bashing post. I readily acknowledge the plethora of benefits that come from advancing technology. I enjoy the advances I have seen in my lifetime, but I’m no Kip Dynamite, either.

Over the past few terms, I have noticed more and more how isolated my students have become. Not that they travel as lone wolves or anything; they are just distant—from each other and from the world around them. Before and after class they sit zombified, staring at the small screens in their hands—most of them absent-mindedly scrolling through unfiltered garbage—instead of talking to each other.

On occasion they break out of their self-induced comas when I ask a direct question. But as soon as my initial engagement (be it joke, sports commentary, food experience, or homework reminder) draws to a natural pause, they disengage from me and flee from the faces in front of them, retreating back to their notifications and memes. They snap senseless ceiling shots simply to maintain a streak with someone they haven’t actually spoken to face to face in months or even years.

It reminds me of the mentality of the monster Cy-Bug things from the movie Wreck It Ralph:

(Taken from disney.fandom.com)

when prompted or focused they are almost unstoppable, but when the beacon of brainless light switches on, they relapse into a drone-like state, oblivious to their environment and even to themselves sometimes. These generic, mindless entities all cry out silently, together, “Look at me! I’m part of the crowd.” And the sheep wander down the hall as a pack, bumping and touching one another but not in touch with each other. I’m not even going to get into how many things Ralph’s sequel accurately depicts about our cyber society.

Recently I came across an article called “A Silent Tragedy” written by Dr. Luis Rojas Marcos, which The Educator’s Room posted to their Facebook page on November 11, 2019. I have read several similar studies regarding the effects of a screen-focused culture. You can check it out for yourself.

When I liked their page, I found another piece entitled “The Death of Reflection in English/Language Arts Classrooms,” and I almost cried. It voiced a few of the exact thoughts I had been having as of late, looking at some of the assignments my own children bring home. It also made me reflect on a previous observation of mine during a filed trip I chaperoned many years ago. Happily, the school situation is not as dire as some people think. Creativity has not completely keeled over in schools. I was a personal witness for two decades. We still have great teachers out there who engage students, who actually want them to think for themselves. The trick now seems to be getting them to surrender their portable think-for-me machines for a long enough  period of time to make a difference.

“But that’s what our society is like now” some might argue. “We could never give up our phones or tablets or computers.” And some might agree with that. I fought how to ban or manage or integrate smart phones and other tech in the classroom regularly.

A comment from my cousin Michelle, who teaches middle school in Salt Lake City, gives me some hope:

“This year at our school we have enforced an absolute ban on phones during school hours. The first two weeks were rough. Now, we have zero phones to deal with and the behavior is markedly different. I don't think it's the ONLY factor in the improved behavior at our school, but certainly it's a factor. Bullying is down, fights are down, friendships and positive relationships are up. Kids are having face to face, real time interactions.”

              And I think that’s what I am really concerned about—relationships, real time interaction. As members of the human race, we are not meant to live in isolation; we are here on this planet to be social beings (Yes, even we introverts!), to interact with each other, to teach and learn and experience life. It’s not how many likes to get; rather how many lives you touch.

I’d like to rant a little longer, but I should take my own advice and go do something with real people instead of sitting behind the computer in my office.

I'll check back in a while to see some of your thoughts about technology and learning and relationships or anything else I rambled about in this hurried post.