Check your phone while driving? 56% of parents say they do.
Check your device during conversations with your family? 77% of parents say their teens do and 41% of teens say their parents do.
Listen to music while doing homework? Browse online and text friends while watching tv? Check and respond on multiple screens and devices at once?
Multitaskers everywhere, beware! It feels so productive, but is it?
Stanford University researchers have observed that media multitaskers are more easily distracted and are less efficient at “task-switching” and at performing tasks that require cognitive control.
University of London researchers found that multitasking with electronic media temporarily lowered IQ more than smoking marijuana or missing a night of sleep. Others are investigating whether there are more long-term cognitive disadvantages and whether multitasking can even diminish empathy and emotional development.
In Screenagers, MIT professor Sherry Turkle and Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dimitri Christakis both comment on the myth of multitasking efficiency.
So why do it? Instant gratification? And here’s where we find ourselves back at the self-control conversation—practicing self-control to be able to retrain and regain our ability to concentrate deeply and boost both the quality and quantity of our accomplishments.
This week, try these conversation starters about multitasking but if you only have time for one, try this: "Where and when do you multitask using tech and how does it go generally?"
· Where and when do you multitask?
· What are the tasks that you do simultaneously?
· How does it feel when you switch from homework to social media or other screen activity and back again? How does it feel afterward?
· Is multitasking a purposeful habit that helps you, or has taken hold of you?
· What would happen if you try to avoid multitasking in situations where you usually would?
June 20, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Check your phone while driving? 56% of parents say they do.
Check your device during conversations with your family? 77% of parents say their teens do and 41% of teens say their parents do.
Listen to music while doing homework? Browse online and text friends while watching tv? Check and respond on multiple screens and devices at once?
Multitaskers everywhere, beware! It feels so productive, but is it?
Stanford University researchers have observed that media multitaskers are more easily distracted and are less efficient at “task-switching” and at performing tasks that require cognitive control.
University of London researchers found that multitasking with electronic media temporarily lowered IQ more than smoking marijuana or missing a night of sleep. Others are investigating whether there are more long-term cognitive disadvantages and whether multitasking can even diminish empathy and emotional development.
In Screenagers, MIT professor Sherry Turkle and Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dimitri Christakis both comment on the myth of multitasking efficiency.
So why do it? Instant gratification? And here’s where we find ourselves back at the self-control conversation—practicing self-control to be able to retrain and regain our ability to concentrate deeply and boost both the quality and quantity of our accomplishments.
This week, try these conversation starters about multitasking but if you only have time for one, try this: "Where and when do you multitask using tech and how does it go generally?"
· Where and when do you multitask?
· What are the tasks that you do simultaneously?
· How does it feel when you switch from homework to social media or other screen activity and back again? How does it feel afterward?
· Is multitasking a purposeful habit that helps you, or has taken hold of you?
· What would happen if you try to avoid multitasking in situations where you usually would?
June 20, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Is learning to write obsolete? How impactful will all the bias be? How can we trust who wrote what, including the issue of cheating? Today I’m writing about ChatGPT. This is HUGE. From the program itself, “ChatGPT is a large language model trained by OpenAI. It is designed to generate human-like responses to text input.”
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Staying on task and paying attention in a classroom online when pulled by many tabs and often phones nearby is intensely challenging. Today I share some solutions that kids have shared when it comes to studying online.
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Back to school during these COVID times. How to deal with cellphones at their side while kids are in class over Zoom? With school at home, staying off cellphones during classes will be a bigger struggle than ever before. Today, I give tips on how to set up for success.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
