How familiar is this scene? You think your daughter is
diligently doing homework. You knock and hear a cheery "Come
on in." As you enter, your daughter is holding the telephone
in one hand, an instant message is popping up on the computer
screen, and the latest song from her favorite group is blaring
from the CD player. The only thing resembling homework is
the math book open on the table next to the keyboard. "I
thought you were doing homework," you say. She gives you
a puzzled look and responds, "I am."
You leave that scene shaking your head and decide to search
for your son who is also supposed to be doing homework.
You find him in the family room with legs crossed, a notebook
in his lap, a pencil in his mouth and his eyes locked on
the TV. When you remind him he is supposed to be doing homework
you get the same: "I am."
Kids are wired like never before. Cell phones, instant
messaging, pagers, faxes, CD players, video games, and the
Internet have all become as common as TV and the radio for
this generation of kids. It is common for kids to be listening
to music, watching TV, and talking on the phone at the same
time. Pop culture says that if you aren't doing a couple
of things at once, you're slacking off.
Some try to tell us that because kids are so wired today
they are excellent multi-taskers. But it turns out that
"one thing at a time" is not old-fashioned advice. It's
backed up by cutting edge brain research.
Common sense tells us multi-tasking should increase brain
activity, but scientists found out it doesn't. Our brains
are built to pay attention to one thing at a time. That's
the finding of Carnegie Mellon University scientists using
the latest brain imaging technology. As a matter of fact,
they discovered multi-tasking actually decreases brain activity.
Neither task is done as well as if each is performed individually.
It's not that we can't do some tasks simultaneously. We
can all chew gum while walking, and most of us can drive
a car and carry on a conversation. But if we are lost in
heavy traffic in an unfamiliar part of town, the radio goes
off and the talking stops. If two tasks are performed at
once, one of the tasks has to be familiar. We perform a
familiar task on "automatic pilot" while really paying attention
to the other one. If they both require attention, we're
in trouble. The brain can only do so much at one time. That's
why insurance companies consider talking on a cell phone
and driving as dangerous as driving while drunk.
Our
media culture is changing how kids learn.
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