Distraction: Should we be concerned?
Young people have always been faced with distractions, but now with computers, video games,
tablets, and smart phones, there are even more things demanding their attention. A recent study found
that more than half of students – aged 8 to 18 – are distracted while doing homework, and for 56
percent of the time they are also using the Internet, watching TV, or using some other form of media.
Should we be concerned about these kinds of distractions?
Some researchers say that one problem with these technologies is that they have a greater
impact on young people. First, young people’s brains become used to constantly switching tasks,
which makes them less able to pay attention for long periods of time. Second, some experts say that
distraction has an impact on people’s ability to think deeply.
One study looked at the computer use of students in grades 5 through 8. The researchers
found a link between access to home computers and a drop in reading and math scores. What is clear,
they say, is that middle graders are mostly using computers to socialize and play games rather than for
educational purposes. The study used data from 2000 to 2005, before the huge rise in social
networking sites, so the problem may be even more extreme today.
In other studies, researchers have shown that boys who have access to video game systems at
home are frequently distracted from their homework. The research showed that the boys’ reading and
writing scores suffered as a result. It’s also possible that playing video games, which involves
multitasking (doing more than one thing at a time) has more impact on the brain than distractions such
as watching TV. In one study, boys aged 12 to 14 spent an hour every other night playing video games
after they finished their homework. On the other evenings, they spent an hour watching a movie on TV.
The researchers found that on nights when the boys watched TV, they slept better than when they
played video games. The video games also had a negative impact on the boys’ ability to remember
vocabulary, even words that they were already familiar with.
What kinds of activities, then, should we encourage children to do? Some scientists say that
reading books is a good choice because children are less distracted when they read books. This may
be because children identify with the characters and are able to focus their attention for longer periods
of time. Many studies have found that students who read books have significantly higher test scores
than students who don’t.
On the other hand, critics of these studies claim that playing complex computer games and
doing Internet searches actually improve a person’s ability to concentrate and stay focused. They say
that books promote one type of learning, whereas the Internet promotes a different, equally beneficial
type.
The impact of computer use on the brain is a complex issue, and not all experts agree on its
positive and negative effects. That is clear is that electronic media are here to stay. For this reason,
education experts may need to turn their attention to designing educational technology that helps
students focus on learning and not be distracted by the media they are using.