Are Your Tech Habits Hurting Your Grades?

By SHANNON DOYNE AND HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO

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Experts are examining how use of digital media, including incessant multitasking, affects kids' habits and learning. How much time do you spend using technology for socializing and entertainment, like texting and gaming? Does it hurt your grades?

In the article "Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction," Matt Richtel considers the effects of constant connectivity on teens' ability to focus and resist distraction, and on their experience of school:

Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention.

"Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing," said Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston. And the effects could linger: "The worry is we're raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently."

Students: Tell us about your digital media habits. How much time (and money) do you spend texting? Do you recognize yourself at all in these teens' stories? Do you often switch between doing homework and things like checking Facebook, watching videos or playing games? Do you find it hard to focus on and process your schoolwork? Are your grades affected? Do you – or your parents – try to set limits on your use of technology?

Teachers: Our companion question to you is How is Technology Affecting Teaching and Learning?