I read with great interest the recent article about the degree to which kids and young adults are multitasking using various electronic gadgets. I'm a University professor and often have the experience in giving seminars to people using Internet-enabled computers, cell phones, and other devices. I've definitely observed the distractive behavior described to in the article. In particular, I once had the fascinating experience demonstrating an online computer resource during a seminar. No one raised any questions during the seminar or said anything about the demo. Afterwards, when I returned to my computer, I went through a flurry of e-mails, most of them CC'd to me. It appears that during the seminar, one of the students was trying out the resource that I was discussing and e-mailed lots of his friends rather critical comments about it. They, of course, e-mailed him back and some of these responses were CC'd to me, so I could trace the dialogue. I later confronted the instigating student and asked him why he didn't simply just raise his hand and ask a question in the traditional style. He was rather dumbfounded and didn't seem to understand the point. I guess this is the new world we're in.
The Multitasking Generation
They're e-mailing, IMing and downloading while writing the history essay. What is all that digital juggling doing to kids' brains and their family life?
By CLAUDIA WALLIS
It's 9:30 p.m., and Stephen and Georgina Cox know exactly where their children are. Well, their bodies, at least. Piers, 14, is holed up in his bedroom--eyes fixed on his computer screen--where he has been logged onto a MySpace chat room and AOL Instant Messenger (IM) for the past three hours. His twin sister Bronte is planted in the living room, having commandeered her dad's iMac--as usual. She, too, is busily IMing, while chatting on her cell phone and chipping away at homework.....
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1174696,00.html
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