Restless and Unfocused: Is this technology a plug in drug?

RESTLESS AND UNFOCUSED: IS THIS TECHNOLOGY A PLUG IN DRUG?

Dr Bex Lewis

Research Fellow in Social Media and Online Learning, CODEC, Durham University

Director, Digital Fingerprint

@drbexl@digitalfprint@bigbible@ww2poster

http://www.childrenmatter.net

Images Purchased: Stockfresh

Digital Native?

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The Screen Age• “We live in a screen age, and to say to a

kid, ‘I’d love for you to look at a book but I hate it when you look at the screen’ is just bizarre. It reflects our own prejudices and comfort zone. It’s nothing but fear of change, of being left out.”

• Prensky’s worldview really stuck with me. Are books always, in every situation, inherently better than screens? My daughter, after all, often uses books as a way to avoid social interaction, while my son uses the Wii to bond with friends. http://j.mp/atlantictouch

Is it the “technology”?

“Tapscott (1998) suggests that talk of children’s addiction to computers, and the threat they pose to family life is evidence of an anti-technology bias.

He points out that people do not talk about book addiction but rather use more positive terms such as voracious readers to describe children who spend time on this hobby.”

Moral Panics… • Every new medium has, within a short time of its

introduction, been condemned as a threat to young people. Pulp novels would destroy their morals, TV would wreck their eyesight, video games would make them violent. Each one has been accused of seducing kids into wasting time that would otherwise be spent learning about the presidents, playing with friends, or digging their toes into the sand. In our generation, the worries focus on kids’ brainpower, about unused synapses withering as children stare at the screen. People fret about television and ADHD, although that concern is largely based on a single study that has been roundly criticized and doesn’t jibe with anything we know about the disorder.

http://j.mp/atlantictouch

http://j.mp/toddleripad

Truly Addicted?

• Often kids will describe themselves as ‘addicted’ to the internet. Most are not, although they are probably online too much.

• Addicts are defined by making something THE most important thing, mood changes, needing more to achieve high, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, and relapses.

Willard: Keep Your Life in Balance: Avoid Addictive Use

• Excessive use of technologies = “resulting in lack of healthy engagement in other areas of life” similar to any other addictions.

• Pew Internet: those using digital tech are also very engaged in other activities. Simply another form of communication for the social.

• Other studies highlight depression/social anxiety/suicide thoughts, but as correlations, not causes.

Usage Stats.. (Childwise 2012) • Between 1997-2011

• PC/Laptop at home from 50% to 100%• Own device, less then 20% (all ages) to

around 60% (5-10); 85% (11-16) • Accessing the internet at home from 20% to

80% or more.

• By 2011• Tablet ownership less than 20%• Never accessed the internet: 3%• Device in own room 50% (7-10), 75% (11-16)

• When used• All times of day, but more frequently after

school til early evening (7-16)

• How much used• In 2001 accessed 2.3 times a week, now 5.2

times, • Per day remains at just under 2 hours a day.

http://j.mp/lse25k

25,000 Children

Bigger (Family) Issues

Gillis (1996) – moral panics about ‘time famine’ have a long history, and families often seem to have exaggerated their togetherness…

When children spend time playing on their computers, it can be a good break from the ‘time-disciplined’ focus of school, exam pressures, etc.

With a computer in their own room can escape e.g. marital conflicts, nags, chores, siblings…

Deeper Connections…• Their grandparents live far away and

we only see them once a year, so Skype calls are a great way for them to keep in touch. (Parent, 3-5 & 6-9)

• Facebook … is a brilliant tool for communicating messages to dispersed groups of people and for maintaining contact with friends and loved ones, and allowing a more intimate involvement in family lives, e.g. grandparents sharing their grandchildren growing up, even if they live far away. (Parent, 18+)

Responses from questionnaire #digitalparenting research

http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/2012/12/book-digital-parenting/

Multi-Taskers?

All Bad?

• DistractiveWatching TV on demand, videos, playing games = pulling away from study.

• Constructive Children have related IM/music/search open whilst working on something.

Pew Internet Research 2012

“We’re all going to end up being more distracted, shallow, fuzzy thinking, disconnected humans who cannot think or act critically. But this won't be because of the internet, it'll be because of the loss of values and resourcing of things like education and civics and the ridiculous degree to which popular media, etc., are influencing our culture, values, etc.”

Pew Internet, 2012• “I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad or anti- ‐social

about smartphones, laptops, or any other technology. I do, however, believe we are entering an era in which young adults are placing an inordinately high priority on being unfailingly responsive and dedicated participants in the web of personal messaging that surrounds them in their daily lives. For now, it seems, addictive responses to peer pressure, boredom, and social anxiety are playing a much bigger role in wiring Millennial brains than problem- ‐solving or deep thinking.”

• David Ellis, director of communications studies at York University in Toronto

Butterfly Brains?

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Dual-Screening? Just the Kids?

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bbcqt&src=typd

Parental Role Models?

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Slave to the Machine?

We like to pretend that we’re in hock to our machines “must take this call” etc. … but the machines don’t care what we do… do you really need to check Facebook every 5 minutes?

“Sometimes a mild obsession can be helpful while you become literate in a new medium, but then you need to be able to make it work in terms which fit in with whatever you want to do with your life.”

Too Scared to Engage?

• The issue we see is that many parents lack confidence in the use of modern technology, some don't have regular access to these resources and are therefore unable to supervise or even be aware of what their children might, or might not be getting up to online. (Parent, 13-15)

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There is an off-switch…

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Core Parenting Skills!• I don't understand why parents can't just be parents. My

sons like to play with tablets and video games too but when I feel they've played long enough or they start getting obsessive, I tell them they're done and to play with something else. If they give me a hard time, I remove the item in question and put it in my closet. Then they go play with something else. 

• At first, they tried throwing tantrums (just like with anything else), and just like every other time they've tried, it got them nowhere so they stopped. End of story. 

• There's a special word that a lot of people seem to have forgotten. It's only two letters long but is one of the most powerful words in the English language. "NO". Learn it, live it, love it. You're not doing your kids (or yourself) any favors by letting them control you

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@drbexl @digitalfprint @bigbiblehttp://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/

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