Are You There Facebook? It's me, Emily
When I heard that there were studies suggesting digital media was responsible for consumers shortened attention span I turned to Google, to check the statistics. So is it true? Forbes Magazine looked closer into the topic by saying social media is responsible for shortened attention spans. Author Ty Kiisel realized digital media has affected his attention span not only in the office, but at home with his wife. In the middle of a conversation, his wife will stop talking just to make sure he is listening while checking his iPhone. Kiisel said it become a problem when his wife actually left the room in the middle of a conversation because he was so in-tuned to his social media. Kiisel wondered what a life would be like without iPhones, laptops, and social media. How would our attention span be? I pondered this question thinking about the life I now live where my iPhone is my alarm clock, my laptop is my calendar, and my social media is my journal. Now a days it is normal for a student to take notes on their laptop and not in a notebook, but this is where I believe attention spans have decreased. How many students spend the entire class actually taking notes?
I can admit, I am one of the students who occasionally gets on to Facebook when the teacher has been going on about the same topic for the majority of the class. I can also admit to pulling out my iPhone to check the time when there is a clock hanging on the wall. I can say I have observed the majority of students walking around campus are texting on their phone, talking to someone on their phone, checking Facebook, or Tweeting. On page 98 of Converging Media, the outlook for magazines is discussed. It is said that every year hundreds of new magazines are published, but do not survive more than two years. This is because more big editions are moving from print to online versions. For instance, the teen girl market has been narrowing titles in the past few years to target their audience who views more of their readings online than in print. This is similar to today's students changing from the typical paper format to digital. Their calendars are now available on their phone and computer, they take notes on their laptops instead of their journals. Why? Because Professors are adjusting to the changing times. If I were to walk into a lecture hall at The University of Maryland, the majority of the students would be on their laptop, texting, or sleeping. I would conduct a study of this by walking around campus and going into different classrooms and seeing first hand what students are actually doing behind their cell phones and laptop screens. Chances are, their not taking notes but chatting on Facebook, Tweeting, Pinning on Pintrest or iChatting with a friend. If our classrooms changed and involved digital media more into them, then students would change from being social media addicts to students using the latest technology to learn. Ty Kiisel tested our society's shrinking attention spans in the business world at a meeting. He asked everyone to put away their laptops, phones, and iPads. Everyone was able to focus by not hearing any chips or buzzes but the discussion at hand. Kiisel was able to accomplish the objectives of the meeting because there were minimal distractions. So you decide, is it time to put away our digital devices in order to increase our attention spans, or should we embrace them in this changing time?
I can admit, I am one of the students who occasionally gets on to Facebook when the teacher has been going on about the same topic for the majority of the class. I can also admit to pulling out my iPhone to check the time when there is a clock hanging on the wall. I can say I have observed the majority of students walking around campus are texting on their phone, talking to someone on their phone, checking Facebook, or Tweeting. On page 98 of Converging Media, the outlook for magazines is discussed. It is said that every year hundreds of new magazines are published, but do not survive more than two years. This is because more big editions are moving from print to online versions. For instance, the teen girl market has been narrowing titles in the past few years to target their audience who views more of their readings online than in print. This is similar to today's students changing from the typical paper format to digital. Their calendars are now available on their phone and computer, they take notes on their laptops instead of their journals. Why? Because Professors are adjusting to the changing times. If I were to walk into a lecture hall at The University of Maryland, the majority of the students would be on their laptop, texting, or sleeping. I would conduct a study of this by walking around campus and going into different classrooms and seeing first hand what students are actually doing behind their cell phones and laptop screens. Chances are, their not taking notes but chatting on Facebook, Tweeting, Pinning on Pintrest or iChatting with a friend. If our classrooms changed and involved digital media more into them, then students would change from being social media addicts to students using the latest technology to learn. Ty Kiisel tested our society's shrinking attention spans in the business world at a meeting. He asked everyone to put away their laptops, phones, and iPads. Everyone was able to focus by not hearing any chips or buzzes but the discussion at hand. Kiisel was able to accomplish the objectives of the meeting because there were minimal distractions. So you decide, is it time to put away our digital devices in order to increase our attention spans, or should we embrace them in this changing time?
Emily! I really enjoyed reading your blog. Your title is what really caught my attention. It places a visual image in my mind of you literally calling out to Facebook for help on being able gain the ability of sustaining a longer attention span on something of more interest-like a side of relief that you no longer have to worry about your mind wondering then having to regain focus. I most definitely agree with you on how the majority of students have converged from a paper format to a more digital one because like you and other students, I too use my laptop for note taking, have access to my calender from my droid, and have the ability to use my phone as a daily planner. I was talking with a friend who is taking a higher level journalism course, and she was explaining to me how they had an assignment on not being able to use technology for 24 hours. She then went into further detail on how most students were stressing the fact that they needed access to at least one of their technical devices because they felt confused and lost without it, and most students found a way to sneak around the assignment by pretending they didn't use a digital device. It appeared to be a really depressing matter for most students in that class because they were now being forced to pay attention instead of having the ability to turn their attention to something else. I also did a little research my self on whether "Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter were eroding attention spans", and from what I read I would agree with the Oxford University researcher that it is. Found here at the provided link: http://bit.ly/jVs91e the researcher says "that sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centered". He then goes on to discuss his fear of how these sites are transforming the minds of teens into that of a babies because just as they become attracted to lights, and buzz sounds, our mind becomes fascinated with twitter and keeping up with what our peers are doing, the latest fashion, and the photos of one another. I feel like his in most of my classes his fear is more a reality because I see a lot of people either on twitter or instagram chatting with friends and most professors are unaware of this behavior mainly because they aren't up to date with the latest technology. I also found your question at the end very intriguing. The reason being and to answer that question is because I don't feel like students are going to put away laptops, iphones, etc. in order to increase their attention span because they may feel that that would not help at all, but instead we, including professor, should embrace this technology and include it into courses because that will allow the students to grasp a longer attention span on the subject being taught instead of their mind wondering off onto irrelevant topics at that time. Pleasing the students, professors, and giving us a greater opportunity of being able to work at our potential level instead of performing at a mediocre level because we werent able to pay attention long enough to hear or take notes on what we needed to.
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