On Multitasking, Distractions and Normalization

Multitasking seems to be the norm nowadays. Our students talk to each other while writing/copying something from the board. As a teacher, I get angry when that happens because I don't know how to get deeper understanding of something while being distracted by another activity. In my previous post I mentioned that "as much as I believe that we can learn successfully while occasionally watching TV or listening to music, I have my doubts about successful acquisition of knowledge when subjected to constant distractions of the internet". It seems that all our life is based on "continuous partial attention" (Friedman, 2006). Young people nowadays are constantly wired. Their belief is that they can pay attention to many things at the same time: driving while talking on the phone or texting, doing their homework while chatting to somebody on the internet. But is it true though? There have been quite a few studies done to test it. In one study, students reported that while they use their laptops and electronic devices in the classroom listening to a lecture, they frequently check emails or send messages. According to Fried (2008), multitasking students reported that doing other things made them pay less attention to lectures, and consequently, their performance was visibly affected. There is also evidence that frequent use of "synchronous communication applications" for reasons other than academic (i.e. chat) is linked to poor academic performance (Fox, Rosen, & Crawford, 2009; Kubey, Lavin, & Barrows, 2001 ). It also distracts the process of academic reading and leads to impulsive behaviour (Levine et al., 2007; Waite, Bowman, & Levine, 2006).

In the study conducted by Bowman et al (2010), an experimental design was setup to analyse the effects of IM done simultaneously with reading a textbook. A situation was created where tertiary education students were given a passage from a book to read online while getting and answering to instant messages. The activity was timed and then the understanding of the text was checked and compared to those students who were not involved in IM.  The initial hypothesis that students who multitasked took longer time to read the passage and had poorer understanding of the content was proved by the study.

This could mean that for particular tasks (especially those of academic nature) multitasking comes with its price. Constant interruptions caused either by chatting, messaging or even web surfing lead to extended duration needed to achieve certain performance level.

Another study (Awwad, Ayesh & Awwad, 2013) showed most students who bring laptops to class use them for non-class related activities, such as chatting, checking e-mails, games or watching videos. The implication of the study suggested that laptops are, in fact, distracting when being used in an educational setting. Recommendation was put forward for teachers and lecturers to monitor the use of laptops in order to ensure the learning process taking place. This could be done by having special software that instructors could use to control students’ activities during the class ( Levine, 2002a & 2002b).

Challenges in using laptops were also observed by Kay & Lauricella (2011). Students showed distracting behaviors and were not able to focus well. They were mostly busy with IM,  surfing the web, playing games, and watching movies. However, Kay & Lauricella (2011) reported more beneficial rather than challenging behaviours. The list of beneficial behavior included note-taking, collaboration, improved organization skills. It is safe to assume that a teacher plays a huge role in meaningfully integrating laptops, or any kind of electronic devices, into the classroom.  

In my previous post, I mentioned the concept of "normalisation" as defined by Bax (2000) in which technology reaches the stage of being completely embedded in our day to day life to the extent of hardly being noticed as a separate entity.

Is it safe to assume that once this happens, and technology is “normalised”, it will no longer present the danger of being a negative distraction, but rather would become a positive factor taking education to the next (higher) level?

References:

Awwad, F., Ayesh, A., & Awwad, S. (2013). Are Laptops Distracting Educational Tools in Classrooms. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 103, 154-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.320

Bax, S. (2000). Putting technology in its place. In: Field, C. (Ed.), Issues in Modern Foreign Languages Teaching. Routhledge, pp. 208 - 219

Bowman, L., Levine, L., Waite, B., & Gendron, M. (2010). Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading. Computers & Education, 54(4), 927-931. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.024

Fox, A. B., Rosen, J., & Crawford, M. (2009). Distractions, distractions: Does instant messaging affect college students’ performance on a concurrent reading comprehension task? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12 , 51–53.

Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers & Education, 50 (3), 906–914.

Friedman, T. L. (2006). The age of interruption. The New York Times, Accessed on 15 December, 2017 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/opinion/05friedman.html

Kay, H. R. & Lauricella, S. (2011). Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Using Laptop Computers in Higher Education Classrooms: A Formative Analysis. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, Vol. 37(1).

Kubey, R. W., Lavin, M. J., & Barrows, J. R. (2001). Internet use and collegiate academic performance decrements: Early findings. Journal of Communication, 51 (2), 366–382.

Levine, L. E. (2002a). Using technology to enhance the classroom environment. T.H.E. Journal, 26(6), 16–18.

Levine, L. E. (2002b). Laptop classrooms present new teaching challenge. T.H.E. Journal, 30(5), 10.

Levine, L. E., Waite, B. M., & Bowman, L. L. (2007). Electronic media use and distractibility for academic reading in college youth. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10 (4), 560–566.

Waite, B. M., Bowman, L. L., & Levine, L. E. (2006). College students’ use of instant messaging relates to distractibility and impulsiveness. Poster presented at the 18th annual convention of the association for psychological sciences , New York, NY.