How do you strike a positive balance with the digital world?
We are inundated by content anytime we switch on one of our devices, and when our devices aren't turned on, we are accruing pings and notifications eagerly waiting for when we again illuminate our screens.
Where is the threshold point whereby we lose control of the online world, and it begins controlling our behavior to an unhealthy extent? Do our devices control us, I think the ship has sailed on that debate - try surviving a week without your smartphone. Devices most definitely have an element of control over us, but I wouldn't go so far as to say this is necessarily a bad thing. We use our devices in many beneficial ways in modern society, from making payments, to navigation, to weather, to communicating, to learning, to commuting, to purchases, to recipe books, to ...
My Phone Wants My Attention, But Is It Trying To Help Or Harm?
Our devices have become an extension of who we are, and this does not have to inherently be met with disdain and resentment. On a popular podcast episode, Neil DeGrasse Tyson famously offered a hot take on his relationship to his phone, stating how he considers it to almost be an extension of his body. Devices can enhance day-to-day quality of life in a seemingly infinite number of ways. However, there is most certainly a line wherein they begin to do more harm than good. Where is that line?
Have you ever been trying to focus and your phone is dinging like mad? Have you ever felt like poor Mr. Ron Swanson here, doing anything you can to silence the relentless dings and pings?
One day, I was fed up with the number of junk mail I was receiving and the low-quality content that was being pushed onto my screen. As I scrolled social media I was seeing advertisement after advertisement, I was seeing content from wacky accounts that I have no interest in, my eyeline was incessantly being intercepted with popups and advertisements for products I had no interest in. My phone got on my last nerve that day, and I felt like I hit a tipping point.
I am in no way a tech guru, could I build my own computer - not presently - could I explain the inner workings of social media and advertising algorithms - not off the top of my head. I am a casual and common consumer of online content and social media. I use these services and products, I have set my preferences and settings, I subscribe to certain pages and channels that are of interest, I clear my cookies and cache on occasion, I set up spam filters and filter my emails, I have an adblocker installed and make use of notification settings to customize my online experience; and yet, I still feel my casual efforts are no match for the algorithms and big tech sophistication that insist my online experience be what "they" want it to be, and not my own. The online world felt like it was becoming unusable, and I began to feel like nothing more than an e-wallet that was desperately trying to be pried open in order for advertisers to extract a quick buck. And when not feeling like an e-wallet, I felt like the content I was stumbling across was e-garbage. I was feeling like Swanson, I wanted to take a hammer to my phone.
Like Any Science Teacher Worth Their Salt, I Conducted An Experiment
Prompted by one of my Master's courses, I tracked the number of notifications that went to my mobile device during a standard work day in the middle of the week. And to my disappointment, I received 47 notifications, almost 6 per hour, for an average of one ding every 10 minutes. Despite my efforts to curb my phone constantly beckoning for my attention, I was still being tempted to flip over my phone and see what the digital world wanted of me every 10 minutes. That is concerning.
My use of social media would be self-described as sparing, and I consider myself fairly competent when it comes to controlling my feed and content, but I am no match for the ecosystem of online targeted ads and content. So where does this lead me?
I find it saddening that a casual user such as myself can do no better than receiving notifications every 10 minutes. Of course, I could disable notifications outright, but as established in my previous article, turning a cold shoulder to technology, the online world, and our devices is not the path forward. To do so would be at the detriment of the many advantages that come with being an active and knowledgeable user of tech.
My Responsibility To My Students
As an educator, how do I help model a healthy relationship with the digital world for my students?
Student use of social media and digital devices is a real concern. CNN Special Report - Being thirteen: Inside The Secret World of Teens (2015) details some harrowing aspects on social media use amongst current generations of students. They raise several concerning points in the feature regarding the amount of time students spend using their devices, the incessant dependance on approval from others that this usage creates, and the negative damage this does to the mental health of these students. And sadly, these did not come as a surprise to me. I have witnessed these effects in the students I've taught, the students I've tutored, my peers, and myself.
As technology integrates into daily life, and seeps into the classrooms - the most successful teachers will be those who manage to effectively utilize it in their teaching. There are benefits of using technology, we need to hone in on them and implement them ethically. To do so means that we must have a strong grasp on our relationship with technology as a whole. We need to understand it, we need to be able to explain it, to use it, to resist it, to challenge it, and in doing so we demonstrate to our students a mastery of the craft - we control and use the technology within our parameters and limitations, it doesn't set the parameters and control us.
We cannot control the relationship students have with their devices beyond the classroom, but we can influence it. By modelling proper device usage in the classroom, and focusing on the positives and naturally herding students away from the negative pitfalls of tech, we establish good practices that have the potential to extend beyond the classroom. By having devices in the classroom, there is no guarantee that these devices will increase student motivation and learning (Aagaard, 2015). Yes, they may reach for the devices, but there is no guarantee they will effectively use them. We are the role models for best tech practices for students in an educational setting. It is in many ways our responsibility to demonstrate to students that there is a path forward to properly co-exist with technology in both a personal and academic environment.
Let's not forget the positives that these devices can yield: global connections, checking in with Nan, accessibility for those with a physical ailment, workplace agility and speed, navigation, because above all, a phone is meant to connect people. Let's model the right behaviour for students, let's not relinquish control to our devices and let the notifications get the best of us. We must wield smart devices and treat them as a friend, and not a foe.
References
Aagaard, J. (2015). Drawn to distraction: A qualitative study of off-task use of educational technology. Computers & Education, 87, 90-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.03.010
ConstantlySporadic. (2015, October 5). CNN Special Report - Being Thirteen: Inside The Secret World of Teens [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9LtTtkg04&t=2s&ab_channel=ConstantlySporadic
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