03-21-2006, 07:00 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Gadget Obsession and Multitasking: Bad for You?
"The cover story in Time magazine this week, entitled "Too Wired For Their Own Good?", condemns the youth of the nation as gadget-obsessed, perennially multitasking, social failures who can't really get into anything important or even relax... The article says that "[t]eenagers who fill every quiet moment with a phone call or some kind of e-stimulation may not be getting that needed reprieve. Habitual multitasking may condition their brain to an overexcited state, making it difficult to focus even when they want to." That extends to social interaction as well, and the parents can be intimidated by their teenagers' scattered focus."
Even the influential writers at Time Magazine believe that the current generation of youths are too "plugged in". Gadget obsession, multitasking, and staying connected - apparently, all this is breeding personal dysfunction and disjointed familial relationships. What do you think? Are we witnessing a disaster in the making, or simply a new and accepted way of life in our digitally-enhanced world?
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03-21-2006, 07:16 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,386
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I was actually listening to a radio station discuss this article yesterday morning and they had some teens call into the station to talk about the impact of technology on their lives. Suprisingly, many of them acknowledged that they do have a hard time focusing on any given task for an extended period of time because they're always on IM or checking email or surfing the net. So what should take 30 minutes to complete a basic homework task could potentially take hours.
I'm an absolute proponent of technology. Used efficiently, most all of the communication mediums today enhance my ability to reach people or knowledge nearly anytime and anywhere, but I also know that personally, some of my most valuable skills and/or items of knowledge were only made possible by some long, focused, and involved "study" sessions that would not have been possible if I was constantly multi-tasking between menial tasks.
Ultimately, I don't blame technology. Just like 10-20 years ago, when there were limits on how much television kids could watch or how much time they can spend playing games, I think it's important to have limits on surfing/IM/cellphone/etc and the Time article was very clear in that only a small minority of parents polled ever set those types of limits.
Just my 2 cents...
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03-21-2006, 07:20 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 484
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It's funny that the parents of today (my generation 8O ) are saying the same things about their kids as their parents were saying about them in the 60's and 70's! Rock and Roll, flower children, the "me culture" political activism (and don't get me started on drug use.)
The excesses of youth (and their side effects) seem to have a way of dissipating with age. But as Scott Adams likes to say "But of course there are the obvious exceptions."
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03-21-2006, 07:22 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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every generation thinks its children are going to cause the collapes of society as we know it because of some new fad. Strangely it keeps plodding on, evolving over time, but never collap-sing completely.
Quit worrying. It will work out fine ... just remember, though, that when you reach 67.75 you lose your geeks license and can o longer work the toys ... kinda like how your grandmother could never figure out the video recorder ...
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03-21-2006, 07:40 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 81
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being a teenager myself i have to say i agree with it to a certain extent. but i guess its nothing a little thing called self discipline and focus cant fix :wink:
__________________
"May the potato be with you!"
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03-21-2006, 07:40 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 718
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Re: Gadget Obsession and Multitasking: Bad for You?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Darius Wey
[i]...can't really get into anything important or even relax...
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That's funny. My parents and grandparents think that kids relax too much and don't work nearly as hard as they did 
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03-21-2006, 08:04 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 276
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Like some have said past generation teens have all done things that have had all of the adults of the time saying the civilized world will end when the kids grow up. At least being a hippy, hard rocker, or a disco gigolo got the kids of the time together and interacting with each other. Now most teens would rather sit at home IM'ing and talking on the cell phone than walk across the street and interact in person. Even when they do get together they are not talking to the person next to them, they are on the cell phone talking to someone else or playing a video game. We actually have to threaten our kids sometimes to get them to go out and interact with other kids.
I'm pretty sure the world will not end because of all of this but I worry about how today's kids will make it in the job market when they grow up. Being 43 and un-adaptable (didn't used to be), I forget how adaptable younger people are...
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03-21-2006, 08:37 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,097
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doom and gloom, bah
natural selection, those that can't cope don't survive nature has this covered (so does modern medicine)
__________________
Please see www.grlt.com "Tech with a twist of lime!"
The Midlands Hybrid Club MidlandsHybrid.com
Current: Kacey's Wing, T-mo Wing Past: GCM_T, T-Mobile MDA |
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03-21-2006, 09:07 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 484
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by egads
Now most teens would rather sit at home IM'ing and talking on the cell phone than walk across the street and interact in person. Even when they do get together they are not talking to the person next to them, they are on the cell phone talking to someone else or playing a video game.
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My mother (now in her late 60s) loved to tell the story how when she was a kid in NY, she would take the telephone into the hallway outside the apartment door and talk to her friend down the hall that was outside her own door looking back at my mom while they talked by phone.
The technology may have changed, but 50+ years hasn't changed much about they way kids use (and abuse) it.
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03-21-2006, 10:50 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 95
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I didn't have time to actually read the article I was sending some emails, and talking on the phone.....
But my 2 cents on the subject and what I teach in my PDA training classes (to adults) is that as many things as a PDA will do, email, web, calandar, task...and even phone calls. The most important part of the equation is using the device as a tool to connect with other people. Instant messaging and cellular calls are still interpersonal skills. Many owners of pda's get caught up in the technology of the device...the end game is the phones are just a tool for communication with other living and breathing human beings.
Of course if you are even reading this post on Pocket PC Thoughts you most likely are beyond saving when it comes to being a tech geek...
And if you are reading it on your Pocket PC...then you are really far gone :mrgreen:
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