our era of distraction

This post in one of my teacher support groups made me raise my eyebrows and shake my head in judgmental agreement like a 70-year-old. How in the world can our students learn with this kind of mindless brain sugar? And it makes me ask the question of myself: what (and how often) are these stupid technological innovations distracting me on this fine Monday morning? It is one reason why my phone is ALWAYS on silent 24/7, and why ALL notifications are turned off. The next step would be to eliminate the smartphone all together, and that seems almost impossible. What in the world has become of our society for that to seem like such a difficult proposition? 

"In preparation for reading Fahrenheit 451, my class did a little social experiment today. While they were working at their desks, I had them quietly move to the board and make a tally mark each time they got a notification on their phone. Grand total for today: 1,678 notifications. That’s 1,678 interruptions to learning caused by cell phones.

One of the central ideas of F451 is that constant, mindless distractions prevent people from developing authentic relationships and suppress deep thought. Hmmm..."

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