“The good thing about this phenomenon is that it’s a relatively discrete behavior that parents actually can do something about,” she says. “It would be hard to enforce a total ban on media multitasking, but parents can draw a line when it comes to homework and studying—telling their kids, ‘This is a time when you will concentrate on just one thing.’ ”
There's a solution
extend their working time to 20, 30, even 45 minutes, as long as they know that an opportunity to get online awaits
Giving students something to look forward to
psychologist Walter Mischel tempted young children with a marshmallow, telling them they could have two of the treats if they put off eating one right away.
idea of being able to resist temptations
acquisition
definition: development of a skill or task
And a study last month showed that students who multitask on laptops in class distract not just themselves but also their peers who see what they’re doing.
Chain reaction
First-year students were far more likely to use their computers for taking notes
This is true because first-year students feel intimidated and actually care, while, for example, second-year students, are more comfortable and used to the environment.
The professors, James Kraushaar and David Novak, obtained students’ permission before installing the monitoring software on their computers—so, as in Rosen’s study, the students were engaging in flagrant multitasking even though they knew their actions were being recorded.
If there were to be consequences, I feel like students would be more aware and less likely to text or check social media or emails during class.
Now that these devices have been admitted into classrooms and study spaces, it has proven difficult to police the line between their approved and illicit uses by students.
Why does it continue to be enforced if the teacher's know that the students would be distracted?
One large survey found that 80 percent of college students admit to texting during class; 15 percent say they send 11 or more texts in a single class period.
statistical evidence
For older students, the media multitasking habit extends into the classroom.
Rules about technology in high school and college are more lenient because teachers and professors expect students to be responsible and take care of their own work.
“I don’t care if a kid wants to tweet while she’s watching American Idol, or have music on while he plays a video game. But when students are doing serious work with their minds, they have to have focus.”
How can students be expected to not get distracted when companies are creating the newest version of technology or the newest update on an app?
when students multitask while doing schoolwork, their learning is far spottier and shallower than if the work had their full attention.
For students who need music to study or do homework, why is it that these students believe that they perform better at school with music?
Attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment while studying, doing homework, or even sitting in class has become common behavior among young people—so common that many of them rarely write a paper or complete a problem set any other way.
It becomes a habit that is hard to break.
Students’ “on-task behavior” started declining around the two-minute mark as they began responding to arriving texts
If one student sends out a text, it begins to affect not only others around them, who may wonder what that person is doing, but it also affects the student who is receiving the text.
noted whether the students were wearing earbuds.
Some students study better with music, while others become more distracted.
using email, looking at Facebook, engaging in instant messaging, texting, talking on the phone, watching television, listening to music, surfing the Web.
By doing homework or studying on the computer, students are more likely to check email or get distracted by messaging because opening up another page is so easily accessible.