tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/technology-distractions-17752/articlesTechnology distractions – The Conversation2021-02-01T12:12:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1540362021-02-01T12:12:41Z2021-02-01T12:12:41ZTouchscreens may make toddlers more distractible – new three-year study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381123/original/file-20210128-23-techgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5168%2C3430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/toddler-staring-tablet-education-gadget-dependency-770994562">riggleton/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Working from home as a parent, a touchscreen device can be a marvellous tool. Pass one to your child, and they’ll be quietly occupied for your Zoom meeting, or for the crunch time as you approach an important deadline. Yet touchscreens can also feel like a tradeoff for parents, who have long feared that screen time may be harmful for their childrens’ development.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81775-7">Our three-year study</a> following children from the age of one to three-and-a-half measured the link between touchscreen use and toddlers’ attention. For the first time, we were able to show that toddlers who used touchscreens were less able to avoid distractions when completing a task on a screen than toddlers with no or low daily touchscreen use. On the other hand, we found that toddlers with high daily touchscreen use were better able to spot flashy, attention-grabbing objects when they first appear on a screen.</p>
<p>These findings are important given the rising levels of screen time observed during COVID-19 national lockdowns. In the UK, for instance, <a href="https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/ep-researchers-find-that-uk-lockdown-linked-to-widening-disadvantage-gap-for-babies-and-toddlers">three in four parents have reported</a> that their children have spent more time watching TV or playing with a tablet during lockdowns. <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2020/uk-internet-use-surges">Individual adult screen time</a> also went up by an hour across the board during the UK’s spring lockdown.</p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, mobile media was already an integral part of family life. Some <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-and-parents-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2019">63% of toddlers aged three to four</a> used a tablet at home in 2019 – more than double the percentage identified by similar research in 2013. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27531985/">In our previous studies</a>, we recorded daily touchscreen-device usage by children as young as six months of age.</p>
<h2>Toddlers on tablets</h2>
<p>Mobile touchscreen media, such as smartphones and tablets, are a common form of entertainment for infants and toddlers. But there has been growing concern that touchscreen use in toddlers may negatively affect the development of their attention. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young girl uses a touchscreen phone on a kitchen table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381185/original/file-20210128-13-3i84r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Young children are using touchscreen technology more than ever during lockdowns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-play-phone-cafe-during-waiting-299527919">Elena Stepanova/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first few years of life are critical for children to <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085114">learn how to control their attention</a>, selecting relevant information from the environment while ignoring distractions. These early attention skills are known to promote later social and academic success – but until recently there was no empirical scientific evidence to suggest a negative impact of touchscreen use on attention control.</p>
<p>In 2015, we started the <a href="https://www.cinelabresearch.com/tablet-project">TABLET Project</a> at Birkbeck’s Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development to see whether any such association might exist. We followed 53 one-year-old infants who had different levels of touchscreen usage. We observed them through toddlerhood (18 months) and up to pre-school age (three-and-a-half years). </p>
<p>At each age, parents reported online how long their child spent using a touchscreen device (tablet, smartphone or touchscreen laptop) each day. Families also visited our <a href="http://www.cbcd.bbk.ac.uk/babylab">Babylab</a> to complete a set of experimental assessments with the research team. This included some computer tasks which used an eye-tracker, enabling researchers to quantify very precisely what babies looked at on a screen. </p>
<p>By measuring how fast and how often toddlers looked at objects that appeared in different screen locations, we could understand how children controlled their attention. We were particularly interested in their “saliency-driven” attention (an automatic form of attention which allows us to react quickly to moving, bright or colourful objects) and their “goal-driven” attention (a voluntary form of attention that helps us focus on task-relevant things).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380990/original/file-20210127-13-1m2ruyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An example of what appears on screen when we measure toddlers’ attention. Illustrated by Ana Maria Portugal, researcher in the TABLET team.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>After three years of data collection, we found that infants and toddlers with high touchscreen use had faster saliency-driven attention. This means they were quicker to spot new stimuli on the screen, like a cartoon lion which suddenly appears. This effect replicated and confirmed our findings in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2769281">a previous study in 2020</a>.</p>
<p>We then presented tasks that directly required toddlers to suppress their saliency-driven attention and instead use voluntary attention. We found that the children with higher touchscreen use were both slower to deliberately control their attention, and less able to ignore distracting objects when trying to focus their attention on a different target.</p>
<h2>Grabbing attention</h2>
<p>Our research is not conclusive and does not demonstrate a causal role of touchscreens. It could also be that more distractible children happen to be more attracted by and absorbed in the attention-grabbing features of interactive screens. </p>
<p>And, while touchscreens share similarities with TV, and video gaming, our new research finds different associations with attention than previously reported with these other media platforms. This suggests that touchscreens might produce different effects on the developing brain than other screens.</p>
<p>Next, we want to conduct further research which might help us draw conclusions about the positives and negatives of touchscreens for toddlers. For instance, while being faster at spotting a new stimulus on a screen may at first appear to be a negative finding, it’s easy to imagine vocations and situations in which this skill might be incredibly useful – such as air traffic control, or airport security screening. </p>
<p>In our increasingly complex audiovisual media environment, it might actually be useful to prime young children on the digital technologies they’ll use to learn, work, and play. But our findings also present a possible downside: that toddlers with high touchscreen use may find it harder to avoid distraction in busy settings like nursery classrooms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Maria Portugal received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:rb2246@bath.ac.uk">rb2246@bath.ac.uk</a> receives funding from Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Tim Smith receives funding from Leverhulme Trust, Nuffield Foundation, Wellcome, ESRC, and Bial. Professor Smith collaborates with Hopster TV.</span></em></p>Young children may find it harder to control their attention if they use touchscreens regularly.Ana Maria Portugal, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Karolinska InstitutetRachael Bedford, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of BathTim J. Smith, Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1275012020-01-01T21:03:22Z2020-01-01T21:03:22ZA month at sea with no technology taught me how to steal my life back from my phone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307034/original/file-20191216-124022-gd83ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C5835%2C3858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The time we invest in our digital lives is time we don’t get back. But, it's not impossible to knock your digital-dependance - and the holidays are the best time to start.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/industrial-port-containers-logistic-concept-313491500?src=775347ef-5dc6-447c-a084-27f7026c33eb-1-39&studio=1">SHUTTERSTOCK</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A survey this year revealed that Australians, on average, spend <a href="https://wearesocial.com/au/blog/2019/02/digital-report-australia">10.2 hours</a> a day with interactive digital technologies. And this figure goes up every year.</p>
<p>This is time we don’t get back. And our analogue lives, which include everything not digital, shrink in direct proportion.</p>
<p>I recently decided to spend four weeks at sea without access to my phone or the internet, and here’s what I learnt about myself, and the digital rat race I was caught in.</p>
<h2>Cold turkey</h2>
<p>Until a year or so ago, I was a 10.2 hours a day person. Over the years, dependence on technology and stress had destroyed any semblance of balance in my life – between work and home, or pleasure and obligation.</p>
<p>I wanted to quit, or cut down, at least. Tech “detox” apps such as the time-limiting <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/17/17870126/ios-12-screen-time-app-limits-downtime-features-how-to-use">Screen Time</a> were useless. Even with these, I was still “on”, and just a click away from unblocking Instagram. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-of-us-are-opting-for-digital-detox-holidays-99740">More of us are opting for 'digital detox' holidays</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So I thought: what about going cold turkey? No screen time at all, 24/7. Was that possible, and what would it feel like? </p>
<p>My commute to work passed the Footscray docks, where container-ships come and go. Passing one day, I wondered if it was possible to go on one of those ships and travel from Melbourne to … somewhere? </p>
<p>Turns out it was. You can book a cabin online and just go. And in what was probably an impulse, I went. </p>
<p>For about four weeks I had no devices, as I sailed solo from <a href="http://www.cma-cgm.com/products-services/line-services/Flyer/AAXANL">West Melbourne to Singapore</a>. </p>
<p>I wanted to experiment, to see what it felt like to take a digital detox, and whether I could change my habits when I returned home. </p>
<h2>What I learnt</h2>
<p>Cold turkey withdrawal is difficult. Even in prison, <a href="https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi560">many inmates have access of some kind of device</a>.</p>
<p>The time on that ship taught me there is a whole other side to life, the non-digital side, that gets pushed aside by the ubiquitous screen. </p>
<p>Real life contains people, conversations, flesh and textures that are not glass or plastic. </p>
<p>It also contains whole worlds that exist inside your head, and these can be summoned when we have the time, and devote a bit of effort to it. </p>
<p>These are worlds of memory and imagination. Worlds of reflection and thought. Worlds you see differently to the pallid glare of a screen.</p>
<p>I took four books with me and read them in a way I hadn’t before: slower, deeper and with more contemplation. The words were finite (and therefore precious). </p>
<p>I’d never spent time like this in my whole life, and was inspired to write about it in <a href="https://grattanstreetpress.com/new-releases/">detail</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waiting-rediscovering-boredom-in-the-age-of-the-smartphone-83207">Waiting: rediscovering boredom in the age of the smartphone</a>
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<p>Of course, we all have our own commitments and can’t always do something like this. </p>
<p>But away from the screen, I learned a lot about our digital world and about myself, and have tried to adapt these lessons to “normal” life. </p>
<p>Since I’ve been back, it feels like some sense of balance has been restored. Part of this came from seeing the smartphone as a slightly alien thing (which it is). </p>
<p>And instead of being something that always prompts me, I flipped the power dynamic around, to make it something I choose to use - and choose when to use. Meaning sometimes it’s OK to leave it at home, or switch it off.</p>
<p>If you can persist with these little changes, you might find even when you have your phone in your pocket, you can go hours without thinking about it. Hours spent doing precious, finite, analogue things. </p>
<h2>How to get started</h2>
<p>You could begin by deleting most of your apps. </p>
<p>You’ll be surprised by how many you won’t miss. Then, slowly flip the power dynamic between you and your device around. Put it in a drawer once a week - for a morning, then for a day - increasing this over time. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-you-zombie-check-your-phone-how-new-tools-can-help-you-control-technology-over-use-103042">Do you 'zombie check' your phone? How new tools can help you control technology over-use</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>If this sounds a bit like commercial digital detox self-care, then so be it. But this is minus the self-care gurus and websites. Forget those. </p>
<p>No one (and no app) is really going to help you take back your agency. You need to do it yourself, or organise it with friends. Perhaps try seeing who can go the furthest. </p>
<p>After a few weeks, you might reflect on how it feels: what’s the texture of the analogue world you got back? Because, more likely than not, you will get it back.</p>
<p>For some, it might be a quieter and more subjective pre-digital world they half remember. </p>
<p>For others, it might be something quite new, which maybe feels a bit like freedom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Hassan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the head of a media and communications program, my life’s digital-analogue balance was off. Four weeks at sea with no devices refocussed my views – even on things that had been there all along.Robert Hassan, Professor, School of Culture and Communication, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256242019-10-22T09:45:28Z2019-10-22T09:45:28ZHow to avoid distractions while studying, according to science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298087/original/file-20191022-28129-1m9cq8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Basically, don't do this.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/focused-young-african-woman-sitting-alone-668101813?src=g-dBDgwseDuXv27vDcOhdQ-1-11">Flamingo Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern life is full of distractions – and some of them can have a negative effect on our ability to concentrate when studying. The problem is that many people tend to underestimate how much they are distracted by what’s going on around them. Here’s how you can get the most from your studies by considering your environment.</p>
<p>Reading is often accompanied by background speech, such as from the television or the conversations of friends or colleagues. When trying to concentrate on a task, people <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/dav/aaua/2002/00000088/00000004/art00010">often report</a> that the presence of nearby speech is annoying. But they are usually not very good at accurately <a href="https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.419596">estimating</a> how distracted they will be by such sounds. However, when measured in the lab, people’s ability to carry out study-related tasks is usually made worse by irrelevant speech in the background.</p>
<p>For example, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000680">recent study</a> recorded participants’ eye movements as they read texts and listened to irrelevant background speech. The results showed reading needed more effort because participants more often had to go back to previously read words and re-examine them. This distraction occurred because readers were inadvertently trying to listen to the irrelevant speech and process its meaning, even though it has nothing to do with what they are reading. </p>
<p>Listening to music is another common distraction that many students choose. A recent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444814531692">survey</a> found that 62% of university students were listening to music while studying or doing homework. But, again, recent <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xlm0000544">eye-tracking</a> evidence suggests that listening to music also reduces reading efficiency in a similar way to irrelevant speech. </p>
<p>This may occur because much music contains language in the form of lyrics that readers try to process. In fact, a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691617747398">recent summary</a> of a large number of studies on the topic has suggested that listening to lyrical music may be just as detrimental to text comprehension as listening to speech.</p>
<p>However, listening to instrumental music without lyrics appears to have little if any negative effect on comprehension. So if you must listen to music while you study, it may be better to listen to classical pieces rather than the latest pop hits.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298088/original/file-20191022-120204-c57exs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Avoid technology altogether if you can.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concentrated-bearded-man-reading-book-334592630?src=JWB9co5IJk9dzK2OJMj6Fw-1-3">A and I Kruk/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>The multi-tasking problem</h2>
<p>Even if you find an empty room and take out your headphones, studying today often means dealing with a big potential distraction in the form of smartphones and social media. In one <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131514000384">study</a>, students conducting three hours of homework engaged with an average of 35 distractors such as using their phone, accessing the internet for non-study purposes or listening to music.</p>
<p>Such types of multi-tasking activities are usually associated with poorer studying <a href="https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z">performance</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214001678">one study</a> found that students who were allowed to send text messages during a lecture had lower comprehension of its contents than those who had their phones switched off. Another recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S036013151930034X">survey</a> found that greater daily Facebook use is associated with an increase in academic distraction.</p>
<p>But while using other media when studying is detrimental to performance, students may not always be aware of this because they tend to overestimate their ability to multi-task. For instance, one <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%252Fs10758-015-9266-4">study</a> asked participants to do either one task or two tasks at the same time. The tasks involved judging whether spoken statements are correct and counting the shape of visual objects. Although teenagers and young adults reported strong confidence in their ability to multi-task, their actual performance was almost always worse compared to when they were doing just one task.</p>
<p>Overall, these results suggest that using media when studying should be limited due to the decrease in performance when multi-tasking. One strategy to avoid the negative effects of media multi-tasking is to take short “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212003305">technology breaks</a>” during which you access the internet, but then restrict its use for the rest of your study period. Other <a href="https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z">options</a> may be to avoid using smartphones and other devices before studying is completed for the day, or to keep such technology in communal areas away from the studying space. </p>
<p>So while you might think you can study in a busy cafe, or with the TV on, or with your phone keeping you connected to the world, the chances are that you’re not as good at getting down to work as you think. By planning studying sessions in a way that minimises external distractors, you could improve your concentration and overall performance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Vasilev does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You’re not as good as blocking out distractions as you think you are.Martin Vasilev, Postdoctoral researcher, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1176192019-05-23T10:06:50Z2019-05-23T10:06:50ZUsing your smartphone at the supermarket can add 41% to your shopping bill<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275908/original/file-20190522-187179-53ltq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pretty-africanamerican-millennial-girl-reading-text-1036450444?src=vL9N8iEPGRIveajQpf7ZQQ-1-0">Shutterstock/Rocketclips Inc</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Are you constantly checking your phone when you’re out and about? Do you have trouble resisting the lure of ever more screen time? If so, be careful when you go grocery shopping – as your phone may be costing you more than you think. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/in-store-mobile-phone-use-and-customer-shopping-behavior-evidence">recent study</a> suggests that grocery shoppers who use their phones in the supermarket end up spending, on average, 41% more than those who don’t. </p>
<p>This may sound counter intuitive. Previously, many bricks-and-mortar retailers have regarded shoppers’ smartphones as a distraction – or worse. They worried that customers who paid attention to their phones spent less time looking at enticing product displays in the store, or might use their phones to search for better deals online.</p>
<p>To find out if these fears were justified (specifically when people go grocery shopping) a team of researchers conducted an experiment. We placed special eye-tracking glasses on more than 400 shoppers, who then went about their shopping as usual. </p>
<p>The glasses allowed us to see precisely what the shoppers were doing when they were shopping – and what they looked at. Some of the participants were encouraged to use their mobile phones, while some were asked to put them away for the duration of their shopping trip.</p>
<p>It turned out that the effect is ultimately the opposite of what we might have thought. Shoppers who checked their phone while shopping spent on average 41% more at the till – and those people who used their phones the most also tended to spend the most money.</p>
<h2>Inside a shoppers’ mind</h2>
<p>The reason for this lies in the way the human brain works when we are shopping – and the vast amount of choices on offer.</p>
<p>Even a small grocery store may keep 10,000 unique products in stock, while large supermarkets stock many times that. It is impossible for the human mind to consciously process and choose between all these available items. We simply cannot cope with all these decisions, which means our brains are trying to simplify the complexity of a grocery store in different ways.</p>
<p>One way is to activate a kind of internal autopilot, which acts as a kind of shopping script, prescribing what we do and see in the store. Essentially, this means that most shoppers usually go to the shelves and sections they always go to, and buy the same products repeatedly. </p>
<p>Say, for example, that you regularly buy milk, chicken and bananas. Your inner autopilot will lead you between the points in the store where you know these items belong. </p>
<p>Similarly, if you are cooking food for a weekday dinner, you may have an inner script of what products should be in that. Products that are not part of that script are most often filtered away by your brain as irrelevant information. </p>
<p>After all, why would you be interested in looking at baking products when you are planning a quick shop for a stir fry, before getting home after a long day at work? All these products we do not consciously see do not stand a chance of getting into the shopping basket. The harsh fact is that shoppers are very habitual creatures – most of us vary our grocery purchases between fewer than 150 products a year.</p>
<h2>Smartphone distractions</h2>
<p>But something different happens when we pick up our phones. Whether it’s to make a call, send a text message, check social media or browse holiday destinations, our minds are forced to switch our very limited attention capacity from the shopping task to the phone. </p>
<p>As attention is distracted, the way shoppers behave in the store drastically changes. They suddenly walk more slowly and in unpredictable patterns, wandering along the aisles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275905/original/file-20190522-187157-11ibvhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Author on auto-pilot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Bath</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They find themselves spending more time in the store, and becoming more receptive to looking at a wider assortment of products as the autopilot has been interrupted. This means they (you) are less likely to filter off information regarding products outside the normal script and more like to be inspired to buy more of them.</p>
<p>In essence, shoppers who look at their phones spend more time in the store, look at more products, and buy more things. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as you may be reminded to buy products that are needed at home that were not on your mental shopping list – or you may be inspired to try a new ingredient. </p>
<p>But if you are conscious of sticking to your shopping plan and budget, then it may be best to keep your phone in your bag or pocket. Remember that an online friendly store – with free wi-fi or smartphone docking stations on trolley handles – may simply be landing you with a bigger shopping bill.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl-Philip Ahlbom has been working for Retail Academics Research Institute who collected some of the data for this project. He receives funding from the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Council. At the time of the research study, he was affiliated with the Stockholm School of Economics. </span></em></p>Online distractions come at a considerable cost when you’re out for groceries.Carl-Philip Ahlbom, Prize Fellow in Management, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1079542019-01-01T23:47:01Z2019-01-01T23:47:01ZTechnoference: A habit parents should ditch during 2019<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251391/original/file-20181218-27752-16gh3hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The excessive use of mobile devices by parents is wreaking havoc on children, and family dynamics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You arrive at the park with your kids and encourage them to play. You sit down and pull out your phone. Your children come over and ask you to play chase. You say “in a minute” while scrolling through your social media feed. </p>
<p>We’ve all done it. It can be hard not to. But these moments, when devices interrupt interactions, are wreaking havoc on children, and family dynamics.</p>
<p>If you are looking to improve your family life this year, how about a commitment to disconnect from devices, and connect with one another more often?</p>
<p>The reality is, technology is ever-present in our lives. <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-kids-age-zero-to-eight-2017">Ninety-eight per cent of families</a> are living in a home with at least one internet-connected device. Parents are <a href="http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1083077/22839022/1370380073813/PARENTING_IN_THE_AGE_OF_DIGITAL_TECHNOLOGY.pdf?token=iO5vMItReCqjiGoPeIDR9eNAmOs%3D">using these devices on average 3.5 hours per day</a>, their children <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-kids-age-zero-to-eight-2017">an average of 2.5 hours per day</a>. </p>
<p>For children, this falls above pediatricians’ recommended guideline of <a href="https://www.cps.ca/en/documents/position/screen-time-and-young-children">no more than one hour of high quality programming</a> for kids aged two to five.</p>
<h2>Families that eat together do better</h2>
<p>Families are also frequently texting, checking social media and surfing the net during family time. Research suggests that almost <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/why-device-free-dinners-are-a-healthy-choice">47 per cent of families</a> report using mobile phones at the dinner table. </p>
<p>Having regular family meals and connecting with one another at the dinner table is important for <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521697.pdf">child development</a>. Essentially, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/485781?dom=newscred&src=syn">families that eat together do better</a>! But family dinners have been under siege by technology.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6rgNz7TFsE0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>As a result, an educational campaign by Common Sense Media called <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/devicefreedinner-clout">#devicefreedinner</a>, starring comedian Will Ferrell, was devised to help families avoid “technoference” at the dinner table, and find a healthy balance with media.</p>
<p>“Technoference,” or the intrusions and interruptions of digital devices during social interactions, has important implications for parenting today. It is next to impossible to simultaneously text while also engaging and responding consistently and sensitively to your child’s needs. </p>
<h2>Mobiles devices can create sad kids, hostile parents</h2>
<p>Research shows that parents who are distracted by their mobile devices not only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2014.10.001">interact less with their children</a>, but are also more <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/133/4/e843.short">hostile towards their children</a>. </p>
<p>Children competing with digital devices for their parent’s attention have been shown to be at risk for behaviour problems, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12822">sadness and withdrawal, hyperactivity and temper tantrums</a>.</p>
<p>Technoference does not go unnoticed by children. Over 50 per cent of kids report that their parents <a href="https://now.avg.com/digital-diaries-kids-competing-with-mobile-phones-for-parents-attention">check their phones too much</a>, and 36 per cent say their parents get distracted by their phones during conversations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251395/original/file-20181218-27746-m3lxzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Using devices as temporary stress relievers can cause children to act out more; try taking the family outside to the park instead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>So, are you ready to commit to reducing screen time and increasing family connection time? If so, there are several ways to make this resolution a success:</p>
<h2>1. <em>Make a family device plan</em></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.aappublications.org/news/2016/10/21/MediaYoung102116">Device plans</a> can help your family decide how and how often media will be used, as well as when and where it will be used. As a family, you can come up with solutions or alternatives for when someone feels like pulling out their device (e.g., pull out a favourite board game or go play soccer instead).</p>
<h2>2. <em>Be a ‘media mentor’</em></h2>
<p>Kids are learning about media from those around them, especially from parents. Parents should <a href="http://www.aappublications.org/news/2016/10/21/MediaYoung102116">model healthy device habits</a>, which includes using devices in moderation, and not letting them interfere with family time, sleep or being active.</p>
<h2><em>3. Have a device basket</em></h2>
<p>When the family convenes together at the end of the work and school day, drop your devices into a <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/devicefreedinner-basket">designated device basket</a>. If possible, set them to “do not disturb” as well.</p>
<h2><em>4. Take control of your phone</em></h2>
<p>Your phone is engineered to capture your attention. That’s why icons are colourful and notification alerts are in red! The <a href="http://humanetech.com/take-control/">Center for Human Technology</a> offers many options to avoid falling into the trap of being drawn in by your device. These include, turning off social media and email notifications, putting your phone on grey scale and keeping your home screen to essential apps only.</p>
<h2><em>5. Resist the desire to document</em></h2>
<p>Capturing special moments is important, but they shouldn’t supersede the moments themselves. Try to be present and prioritize sharing moments with your child rather than your social media followers.</p>
<h2><em>6. Monitor your device habits</em></h2>
<p>Just like a Fitbit counts our steps, a device tracks our usage. Activate the screen time function on your phone and monitor your usage. Resolutions can be more successful when they are systematically tracked. Make a goal to cut your device usage by 10-25 per cent and monitor your progress.</p>
<h2><em>7. Understand your media habits</em></h2>
<p>Understand the <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/the-sneaky-science-behind-your-kids-tech-obsessions">science behind why technology can be so addictive</a>. For some parents, using devices may be an escape from their child’s difficult behaviours or a way to <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2696971">relieve some stress</a>. Unfortunately, using devices as a temporary stress reliever can lead to children acting out more to <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-english-research-news/digital-devices-during-family-time-could-exacerbate-bad-behavior/15838792">regain their parent’s attention</a>. As much as possible, try to find other ways of relieving stress, such as exercise, deep breathing or taking the kids to the park.</p>
<p>Technology and devices can be used thoughtfully and appropriately. Like everything else, they need to be used in moderation and they should not replace important activities such as family time, sleep, playing outside, exercise and face-to-face interactions and communications.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheri Madigan receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Research Chairs program, and the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dillon Thomas Browne and Rachel Eirich do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not too late for a New Year’s resolution. If you’re a parent - resolving to stop ‘technofering’ could be one of the most important things you do this year.Sheri Madigan, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of CalgaryDillon Thomas Browne, Assistant Professor, University of WaterlooRachel Eirich, Research Assistant, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1074282018-12-12T11:42:38Z2018-12-12T11:42:38ZDon’t worry about screen time – focus on how you use technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249815/original/file-20181210-76977-1c28o2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C5615%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Through creative off-label uses of technology, some people have improved close relationships and their health.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/pixel-girl-peeps-out-phone-720066970">KristinaZ/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Americans find themselves bombarded by expert advice to limit their screen time and break their addictions to digital devices – including enforcing and modeling this restraint for the children in their lives. However, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8bP4OqUAAAAJ&hl=en">over 15 years</a> of closely observing people and talking with them about how they use technological tools, I’ve developed a more nuanced view: Whether a technology helps or hurts someone depends not just on the amount of time they spend with it but on how they use it.</p>
<p>I’ve found many people who have found impressively creative ways to tailor the technologies they have to serve their values and personal objectives, improving their relationships and even their health.</p>
<p>In my forthcoming book, “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/left-our-own-devices">Left to Our Own Devices</a>,” I introduce readers to people who pushed products beyond their intended purpose, creating their own off-label uses. Some of them turned self-help products, like smart scales and mood apps, into mechanisms for deepening relationships; others used apps like Tinder, designed to spark interpersonal connection, as an emotional pickup – gathering data to feel better about themselves without the hookup. And still others have pieced together different tools and technologies to suit their own needs.</p>
<h2>Looking beyond the rules</h2>
<p>A few years ago, for instance, my colleagues and I <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1371">created an app to help people manage stress</a> as part of a health technology research project. Psychotherapy and other mental health services have traditionally been offered as individual treatments, and so we expected people would use our app on their own, when they were alone. We put a great deal of effort into assuring privacy and instructed people who participated in our research that the app was for their use only.</p>
<p>But many of the participants ended up bringing the app into their conversations with others. One woman used it with her son to process a heated argument they had earlier in the day. She sat down with him and together explored the visuals in the app that represented stages of anger. They followed the app’s cognitive therapy cues for thinking about feelings and reactions – their own and each other’s. She shared it with him not as a flashy distraction, but as a bridge to help each understand the other’s perspectives and feelings.</p>
<p>The app was intended to help her change the way she thought about stress, but she also used it to address the source of her stress – making the app more effective by, in a certain sense, misusing it.</p>
<h2>New turns with familiar devices</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250033/original/file-20181211-76971-12cj5ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Controlling the lights can send a message.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mobile-phone-womans-hand-night-city-157563695">LDprod/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Another woman I spoke with took smart lights – the ones that can change color at the tap of a button in a smartphone app – far beyond their intended functions of improving decor and energy efficiency. When she changed the color of the lights in the home she shared with her partner from white to red, it was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053141">signal that she was upset</a> and that they needed to talk. The light color became an external symbol of the conflict between them and provided a new way to begin a difficult conversation. </p>
<p>Similarly creative thinking helped strengthen the relationships between patients and a physician I interviewed. She practiced primarily through telemedicine, meeting with patients via a secure medical videoconferencing system. She was aware that physical and emotional distance could weaken a relationship already fraught with sensitivity and an imbalance of power between an expert and a patient.</p>
<p>So she experimented with the view her camera provided of her and her surroundings. First, she showed patients a view of just her face, in front of an unadorned white wall that revealed nothing about her. Then she shifted the camera to show more of her home, which of course revealed more of herself. Patients could now see some of the art that she liked as well as elements of her home, which said something about her habits, values and personality. </p>
<p>This sharing leveled the playing field in some ways. As patients were opening up themselves to her by describing symptoms and the details of their lifestyle, they could see that she was not a lab-coat-clad expert issuing directives from an intimidating medical office – she was a real person living in an ordinary apartment. This step toward reciprocity made it easier for patients to relate to her. She believes this is part of why her patients have expressed feeling close to her and so much trust in her treatment. It was a small adaptation that brought greater rapport and connection to a technology often viewed as a poor replacement for in-person meetings.</p>
<p>With increasing attention to the effects of technologies, we should not only be concerned with their potential harms. As I’ve observed, experimenting with how – not just how much – we use technology might uncover unexpected ways to make life better.</p>
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<header>Margaret E. Morris is the author of:</header>
<p><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/left-our-own-devices">Left to Our Own Devices: Outsmarting Smart Technology to Reclaim Our Relationships, Health, and Focus</a></p>
<footer>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</footer>
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</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107428/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret E. Morris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whether a technology helps or hurts people depends not on how much time they spend with it, but how they use it.Margaret E. Morris, Affiliate Faculty in Human Centered Design and Engineering, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/989512018-07-16T14:14:37Z2018-07-16T14:14:37ZCan’t focus? Addicted to your online world? There’s an app for that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227182/original/file-20180711-27039-wlrx2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Pomodoro, a humble tomato-shaped kitchen timer, can improve your focus.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a distracted world. Our ability to focus on a single task or activity is dwindling, even though many people insist they’re good multi-taskers. Neuroscientist <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794">Earl Miller</a> says these people are “deluding themselves”. All we are really doing is dividing our brain’s processing power between tasks as we switch from one to another. We are actually increasing the <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794">cognitive load</a> on our brain.</p>
<p>Despite knowing all of this, I have checked my email at least ten times while writing this article. I’ve Googled references and then followed links down “interesting” rabbit holes. I’ve felt my phone buzz and checked to see what the message was. </p>
<p>Even though we are aware of how distractions affect our productivity, we still find it hard to resist them. One of the reasons is our addiction to dopamine, a chemical that functions as a <a href="https://www.neurogistics.com/TheScience/WhatareNeurotransmi09CE.asp">neurotransmitter</a> and makes us feel good when it is released. Every time we receive <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201209/why-were-all-addicted-texts-twitter-and-google">new information</a> we are rewarded with a rush of dopamine to the brain.</p>
<p>But if the innovations of our digital age are largely to blame for our decreasing attention spans, don’t they also hold possible solutions? There are thousands of apps that suggest this is the case. Apple’s app store has an entire category dedicated to “productivity” apps.</p>
<p>But simply creating a digital version of a traditional tool is often <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-schools-shouldnt-approach-technology-like-businesses-once-did-60005">not effective</a>. What is needed are ways to encourage people to use the productivity tools and enjoy being focused and productive.</p>
<p>One of the areas I have been <a href="http://www.teachernology.com/activated-classroom.html">involved in</a> researching is <a href="http://www.teachernology.com/blog/is-it-time-to-up-your-game">gamification</a>. Gamification is applying game principles and mechanics, such as earning badges and using leaderboards, to encourage participation. A popular <a href="https://kahoot.com/">example of this is Kahoot!</a> which gamifies quizzes through leaderboards, music and countdown timers.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227418/original/file-20180712-27030-1r4qmp4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kahoot! podium.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Combining gamification with a focus routine is one potentially promising way of improving focus in our modern world. The principle has been built into a range of approaches (as well as apps) that help people break the cycle. I’ve used some, and my students have used some. They work.</p>
<h2>The Pomodoro technique</h2>
<p>Take the Pomodoro technique: <a href="https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique">named after</a> a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, is based on the principle that even the largest building is constructed a brick at a time. Rather than being overawed by huge tasks, the idea is to commit to single small tasks which are achievable. It has significantly improved the productivity of my students, as well as my own. </p>
<p>The Pomodoro technique is based on what’s called a pomodoro: a 25-minute work period followed by a 5-minute break. After three or four “pomodoros” you take a longer break. The one essential element is that during a pomodoro you commit to focus entirely on the task at hand. That means no checking email or Whatsapp, and even resisting the urge to watch an ant walking across your desk. It takes a little bit of getting used to and the first few pomodoros are often littered with errant wandering thoughts demanding a dopamine fix. </p>
<p>However, you quickly learn that it’s actually easy to do this for just 25 minutes and before you know it you’ve done some really productive work which itself generates dopamine, reinforcing a new habit of focus.</p>
<p>And of course, there are digital versions. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/focus-keeper-work-study-timer/id830466924?mt=8">Pomodoro timers</a> can be downloaded from several app stores.</p>
<h2>Trees, tricks and risks</h2>
<p><a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513469&dl=ACM&coll=DL">Research</a> on gamification has shown that it can encourage learning. For example, I use gamified <a href="http://www.kahoot.com">Kahoot!</a> quizzes during my lessons to gauge student understanding. Students are excited to participate as they attempt to climb the leaderboard. </p>
<p>Gamification can also encourage increased levels of commitment and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215300868">performance</a>. For this reason more and more organisations are using it. In South Africa <a href="https://techcentral.co.za/discovery-has-a-world-beater-on-its-hands/64387/">Discovery Health</a> has successfully used it to encourage its members to exercise regularly and drive carefully in order to earn points and get rewards.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1633&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1633&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227361/original/file-20180712-27036-1gq66oz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1633&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Discovery Health gamifies exercise and driving.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://enterprise-gamification.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=26&lang=en">Google</a> has also gamified the submission of employee expense claims, reportedly resulting in 100% compliance.</p>
<p>Gamification can also be used to help you focus. There’s <a href="https://www.forestapp.cc/en/">Forest</a>, an app that gamifies the Pomodoro approach by encouraging you to plant virtual trees. If you use your phone while the app is working, though, your tree dies. Seeing trees growing helps users to visualise their time and effort.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pb3ol59qMPw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Forest App.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s even a group mode where multiple people commit to “focus” times. If any person in the group uses their phone, everyone’s trees die. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, in an attempt to address these issues, Apple’s soon to be released iOS 12 will include new <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/ios-12-introduces-new-features-to-reduce-interruptions-and-manage-screen-time/">distraction assisting tools and settings</a>. These new features allow users to view phone usage activity reports, set time limits on app usage and schedule Do Not Disturb times when all notifications are muted.</p>
<p>My favourite high risk, high return focus app is <a href="https://www.themostdangerouswritingapp.com/">The Most Dangerous Writing App</a>. This app asks you to choose a time period – 3 or 5 minutes, or longer if you’re brave, and then click “Start Writing”. You’re presented with a blank screen and you begin writing. However, if you stop for just a couple of seconds you lose everything. Even my most distracted students are totally focused. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227415/original/file-20180712-27030-1qk239g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TheMostDangerousApp.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, go ahead, plant your trees. Challenge yourself. Challenge your friends. Use whatever tools you can to make focusing a little easier. It’s a survival skill we all desperately need to sharpen in this digital age.</p>
<p><em>Author’s note: Well done if you read this entire article. You’ve just concentrated for approximately five minutes.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Craig Blewett is the author of the book "Wake Up Class!: 5 Activating Digital-Age Pedagogies that will Revolutionize your Classroom" and runs the website <a href="http://www.activatedclassroom.com">http://www.activatedclassroom.com</a> that trains educators to teach effectively with technology.</span></em></p>If innovations of our digital age are largely to blame for decreasing attention spans, don’t they also hold possible solutions?Craig Blewett, Senior Lecturer in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820572018-07-10T10:38:59Z2018-07-10T10:38:59ZTo improve digital well-being, put your phone down and talk to people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225389/original/file-20180628-117436-8sykbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They're missing out.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/communication-problem-man-woman-phones-on-781595470">puhhha/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple and Google in 2018 announced features in their forthcoming mobile operating systems designed to “<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/ios-12-introduces-new-features-to-reduce-interruptions-and-manage-screen-time/">reduce interruptions and manage screen time</a>.” <a href="https://wellbeing.google">Android</a> and <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/ios-12-introduces-new-features-to-reduce-interruptions-and-manage-screen-time/">iOS</a> users alike will soon be able to guard their sleep against digital temptations, easily activate “Do Not Disturb” mode when needed, and get prompted to stop when they have used their favorite apps beyond a personally chosen time limit.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=K-AEcdIAAAAJ&hl=en">psychological scientist</a> <a href="https://www.kushlev.com/papers/">who has been studying</a> the effects of mobile technology on well-being for the past five years, I can only welcome these new tools. Indeed, a great deal of research has documented how smartphones might be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.047">harming people’s sleep quality</a> or <a href="https://www.nobascholar.com/chapters/6/download.pdf">distracting them from nondigital activities</a>. In my own experimental research, my collaborators and I have found consistent evidence that smartphones can also distract users from the family and friends right in front of them, such as when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.10.007">sharing a meal</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407518769387">spending time with their children</a>.</p>
<p>In situations that clearly call for limiting digital distraction – like playtime with kids – Apple’s and Google’s new tools will offer a convenient solution. Yet, my research suggests that smartphones may be making us less happy in a much wider range of social situations than we might expect.</p>
<h2>The limitations of choice</h2>
<p>The crux of the matter is that people, as it turns out, fail to judge what economists call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/599764">opportunity costs</a>” – the value of what someone gives up when they make a choice to do one thing and not another. </p>
<p>For example, in a series of studies I conducted with <a href="https://ubc.academia.edu/JasonProulx">Jason Proulx</a> and <a href="https://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/curriculum-vitae-2/publications/">Elizabeth Dunn</a> at the University of British Columbia, we found that people neglect a key side effect of relying on their phones for information: They <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.07.001">miss out on chances</a> to boost their sense of social connectedness. Using a mobile map app, for example, obviates the need to rely on other people, removing the opportunity to experience the kindness of a stranger who helpfully provides directions to a store or movie theater.</p>
<h2>Just put the phone down</h2>
<p>It is easy to see how completely forgoing social interaction for technological convenience can hurt someone’s social well-being. But most people use their phones precisely to socialize – often while simultaneously socializing with others in person. Perhaps it’s having a drink with a co-worker while also Snapchatting with a friend, texting with a partner, or even setting up a new date through Tinder or Grindr. One may think that socializing with more people simultaneously is better.</p>
<p>But my collaborator, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bREJHyAAAAAJ&hl=en">Samantha Heintzelman</a>, and I recently found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617722199">combining digital and face-to-face socializing</a> is not as enjoyable as putting down the phone and just spending time together. </p>
<p>In a study at the University of Virginia, we tracked the social behavior and well-being of 174 millennials over the course of a week. At five random times each day, we sent each person a one-minute survey to complete on their mobile phone. We asked what they had been doing in the previous 15 minutes, including whether they were socializing in person or digitally (such as by texting or using social media). We also asked how close or distant they were feeling to other people, and how good or bad they were feeling overall.</p>
<p>We weren’t particularly surprised to find that people felt better and more connected during times when they only socialized face-to-face, as compared with when they weren’t socializing at all. This fit with decades of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cap0000063">existing research</a>. We didn’t find any benefits of digital socializing over not socializing at all, though our study wasn’t designed to explore that distinction.</p>
<p>We did find, however, that when socializing face-to-face only, people felt happier and more connected to others than when they were socializing only through their phones. This is notable because the people in our study were the generation of so-called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816">digital natives</a>,” who had been using smartphones, tablets and computers to interact since very young ages. Even for them, the benefits gleaned from good old face-to-face talking exceeded the well-being of digitally mediated communication.</p>
<p>Most critically, people felt worse and less connected when they mixed face-to-face with digital socializing, compared to when they solely socialized in person. Our results suggest that digital socializing doesn’t add to, but in fact subtracts from, the psychological benefits of nondigital socializing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225527/original/file-20180629-117436-uvck9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could your device help you avoid this?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/68532869@N08/17468693762/">Japanexperterna.se</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Giving people a fighting chance</h2>
<p>As people’s useful digital devices start to provide more and better options for limiting screen time and staving the flow of digital interruptions, deciding when to use those powers is neither obvious nor intuitive. Behavioral science provides some promising solutions to this predicament. </p>
<p>Rather than having to decide activity by activity when not to be interrupted, people could make Do Not Disturb the default, only seeing notifications when they want to. My <a href="http://psyciq.apa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TMS18_FINAL-program_180312-1600.pdf#page=37">recent research</a> – with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hs9OCeEAAAAJ&hl=en">Nicholas Fitz</a> and <a href="http://danariely.com">Dan Ariely</a> at Duke University’s <a href="https://advanced-hindsight.com">Center for Advanced Hindsight</a> – suggests, however, that never receiving notifications hurts well-being by increasing fear of missing out. The best way is the middle way: We found that setting the phone to deliver batches of notifications three times a day optimized well-being. To set their users up for optimal psychological benefits from both their digital and nondigital activities, Google and Apple could make batching notifications easier.</p>
<p>Google and Apple should also expand their proactive recommendations for managing interruptions. The iPhone, for example, already offers the option to automatically turn on <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht208090">Do Not Disturb while driving</a>, and in the forthcoming features, <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/ios-12-introduces-new-features-to-reduce-interruptions-and-manage-screen-time/">while sleeping</a>. The growing evidence on how smartphones are compromising well-being during social interactions suggests that social and family time also warrants protection from digital disturbance.</p>
<p>People spend <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/14/about-a-quarter-of-americans-report-going-online-almost-constantly/">more time</a> in the company of their digital gadgets than with friends and even romantic partners. It is only fair that these devices should learn more about what makes people happy, and provide a chance to reclaim the happiness lost to digital activity – and from the companies that need people’s attention to thrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82057/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kostadin Kushlev does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New tools to help people use their smartphones in less detrimental ways are a good start, but could be even better at protecting users’ well-being.Kostadin Kushlev, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987082018-06-27T19:56:04Z2018-06-27T19:56:04ZShould mobile phones be banned in schools? We asked five experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224824/original/file-20180626-19416-ap3yzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We should teach students how to use technology appropriately, rather than banning it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>NSW Minister for Education Rob Stokes <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/massively-overdue-smartphone-review-to-tackle-predators-cyberbullies-20180621-p4zmsz.html">has ordered</a> a review into phone use in schools. He <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-21/ban-on-smartphones-in-nsw-schools-on-the-cards/9893186">said</a> the review would look at the risks and rewards of social media. The review will ultimately decide whether to ban mobile phones in NSW schools.</p>
<p>Finnish education expert Pasi Sahlberg also recently <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/schools-need-to-react-quickly-education-expert-urges-smartphone-ban-20180525-p4zhm4.html">said</a> he believed mobile phone-related distraction is a main reason for Australia sliding down in <a href="https://www.acer.org/ozpisa">PISA</a> rankings.</p>
<p>Parents and teachers have similar concerns about cyberbullying and safety, as well as technology distracting from schoolwork. But do the benefits of having phones in classrooms (such as contact with parents, access to mental health text lines, and learning opportunities) outweigh the risks?</p>
<p>We asked five experts if schools should ban mobile phones in classrooms.</p>
<h2>Four out of five experts said no</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=99&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=99&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=99&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224844/original/file-20180626-19385-9y1neu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Here are their detailed responses:</em></strong></p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-284" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/284/0ff3874bcae0a177558e633d0f48b8f5d311b11e/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<p><em>If you have a “yes or no” education question you’d like posed to Five Experts, email your suggestion to: sophie.heizer@theconversation.edu.au</em></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210303/original/file-20180314-113452-h7un11.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Disclosures: Matthew Kearney receives funding from the ARC and Erasmus+.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Four out of five experts say we shouldn’t ban mobile phones in classrooms.Sophie Heizer, Commissioning Editor, Education, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/879722017-12-01T00:39:23Z2017-12-01T00:39:23ZWhy Silicon Valley wants you to text and drive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196794/original/file-20171128-28866-sv5qh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tech companies want to reduce conflict between texting and driving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/texting-while-driving-car-irresponsible-man-719930443">Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As self-driving cars come closer to being common on American roads, much of the rhetoric promoting them has to do with safety. <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-data-shows-traffic-deaths-77-percent-2015">About 40,000 people die</a> on U.S. roads every year, and driver errors are linked to <a href="https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115">more than 90 percent of crashes</a>. But many of the biggest advocates of autonomous vehicles aren’t car companies looking to improve the safety of their existing products. Huge backing for self-driving technologies is coming from Silicon Valley giants like <a href="https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/22/apple-research-self-driving-cars/">Apple</a>.</p>
<p>Those of us who have studied the relationship between technology and society tend to look more carefully at the motivations behind any technological push. In this case, it’s clear that in addition to addressing safety concerns, Silicon Valley firms have a strong incentive to create a new venue for increasing the use of their digital devices. Every minute people spend on their mobile phones provides data – and often money – to tech companies.</p>
<p>At present, digital devices and driving are in conflict: There are serious, often fatal, consequences when <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving">drivers use smartphones to talk or to text</a>. Regulators and safety advocates look to resolve that conflict by banning phone use while driving – as has happened in <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/cellular-phones-use-and-texting-while-driving-laws.aspx">virtually every state</a>. But the tech companies are taking a different approach. The obvious answer for Silicon Valley is creating an automobile in which continuous cellphone use no longer poses a threat to anyone.</p>
<h2>Not a new idea</h2>
<p>The idea of a car so capable a driver is not needed isn’t new. As far back as the 1950s, the Saturday Evening Post ran an illustration imagining a family playing a board game (in a convertible!) as the car conducts itself down the road. When self-driving cars actually take to the streets in large numbers, today’s families likely won’t be playing Scrabble – though Words With Friends and other mobile games are a near certainty. Every passenger is likely to be using a mobile device.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195880/original/file-20171122-6027-1syyjk2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A self-driving car depicted in the 1950s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Saturday Evening Post</span></span>
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<p>In recent years, the amount of time adults spend on their mobile devices (beyond actual phone calls) has grown rapidly. At the moment, it’s <a href="https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6">around four hours a day</a> for the average adult in the U.S. However, that rapid growth is likely to slow down as people run out of time that’s available for them to use their devices.</p>
<p>Unless, of course, there’s a new block of time that suddenly opens up. The average American now spends <a href="http://www.newsroom.aaa.com/2016/09/americans-spend-average-17600-minutes-driving-year/">about 48 minutes in a car every day</a>, a sizable opportunity for increased cellphone use.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Chris Urmson, then director of Google’s self-driving car program, discusses Google’s efforts to advance autonomous vehicles.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Chris Urmson, former director of Google’s self-driving car project, made this interest clear in a 2016 talk, saying that autonomous vehicles offer the “exciting” possibility of creating “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj-rK8V-rik">another room for you</a>” where, among other activities, you can watch videos. The investment analysts at Morgan Stanley have talked about autonomous cars becoming a “<a href="http://www.investors.com/news/technology/apple-alphabet-could-gain-if-self-driving-cars-are-4th-video-screen/">fourth screen</a>” in Americans’ lives (in addition to the home TV, personal computer and mobile phones or tablets). Perhaps the most explicit declaration of this interest came from Jia Yueting, co-founder of the budding Chinese automaker LeEco, when he said, “We see the car in the future as <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-beijing-china-leeco-insight-idUSKCN0XL11X">an extension of the internet</a>, another entry point for us to sell web-based content and services.”</p>
<p>So as the public conversation around autonomous cars highlights the safety advantages, don’t forget the tech industry’s powerful desire for more profits, which goes well beyond simply saving us from ourselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Barkenbus does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why do tech companies care so much about self-driving cars? If drivers no longer need to pay attention to the road, they can use their mobile devices even more.Jack Barkenbus, Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/843252017-09-25T10:14:11Z2017-09-25T10:14:11ZTeens and parents in Japan and US agree – mobile devices are an ever-present distraction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187252/original/file-20170923-17306-1vgrpgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How does technology affect family relationships?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-family-internet-addiction-concept-girl-651763030">Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a university professor and a mother of teen boys, I am immersed in a world of young faces buried in their phones. To be fair, adults, too, are enamored with the tiny, powerful computing devices in the palms of their hands. The patterns of daily life have been forever altered by the ubiquity of digital devices. The world has been rewired. And nobody wrote a user’s manual.</p>
<p>Advances in digital media and mobile devices, and the rising power of social media, are changing the way people engage not only with the world but also with close friends and family. This generation of parents faces rapidly emerging and unprecedented challenges in managing digital devices and the activities they enable – and must simultaneously wrestle with these issues in their own lives and in the lives of their children. </p>
<p>I recently led a research project investigating the effects of digital devices on family life in Japan. As part of that work, we compared our results from Japan to <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/technology-addiction-concern-controversy-and-finding-balance-infographic">studies asking similar questions</a> of U.S. families, conducted by our collaborator Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization focusing on children and technology. We found Japanese and U.S. families <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/digitaldevices">struggling in very similar ways</a> with the impact of technology on their lives, their relationships and each other.</p>
<p>Parents and teens in both societies use online media for long periods every day, which at times causes family stress and arguments. Some feel addicted to their devices, and many worry about family members’ apparent addictions to technology. And in both countries, there are children who feel their parents neglect them in favor of digital devices.</p>
<h2>Shared feelings of anxiety</h2>
<p>We polled 1,200 Japanese parents and teens to find out how the saturation of cellphones and other devices in family life is playing out in homes and child-parent relationships. We compared their answers to <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research">Common Sense’s existing research</a> on U.S. teens and parents.</p>
<p>The findings are clear: Parents and teens in the high-tech societies of Japan and the U.S. find it hard to imagine life without mobile phones and tablets. And they share similar struggles with the role of technology in their lives: In both countries, the “always-on” media environment leads a great many teens and parents to feel the need to check their devices frequently, often several times an hour. </p>
<p>And large numbers of parents and teens feel the need to “respond immediately” to texts, social networking messages and notifications.</p>
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<h2>Feelings of distraction</h2>
<p>We also took a closer took at how parents and teens perceive their own, and each others’, dependency on mobile phones. In both the U.S. and Japan, the answers were surprisingly consistent: Roughly half of teens reported feeling “addicted” to their mobile devices, and so did more than a quarter of parents. </p>
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<p>Many parents and teens surveyed in both countries feel that the always-available mobile devices have interfered with their family connections. More than half of parents in both the U.S. and Japan think their teens spend too much time on their mobile devices. More than half of American teens think the same about their parents, though far fewer Japanese teens share that view.</p>
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<p>Both parents and teens often feel the other is frequently distracted and not able to be fully present when they’re spending time together.</p>
<p>These conflicts play out in frequent disagreements – roughly one-third of U.S. parents and teens argue about device use every day. The numbers are lower in Japan, but families there are having the same fight.</p>
<p>And some parents and teens in both countries say mobile device use has hurt the relationship between parents and children. In particular, one in four Japanese parents expressed concern about the damaging effects of digital device use.</p>
<p>Teenagers voiced concerns of their own. In both countries, teens watch their parents engage with their own devices and it’s not always a comfortable experience: 6 percent of U.S. teens, and more than three times as many Japanese teens, say they have sometimes felt that a parent thinks their mobile device is more important than their child.</p>
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<h2>A complex relationship</h2>
<p>While these results highlight the ways in which mobile devices have become a source of tension in family life, they also reveal a common belief that using them prepares teens for jobs in the 21st century. It’s not just teens who see the benefits of digital device use: 25 percent of Japanese and 88 percent of U.S. parents feel it helps their children acquire new skills.</p>
<p>This study focused on patterns of use and exposure to digital media, but leads to further questions about what content families engage with and their reasons for using media. For instance, what do people mean when they use the term “addicted” in reference to mobile technology? What drives people’s need for digital connection? How might social and cultural differences alter the effects of digital devices on family life? And, of course, expanding these questions beyond just two countries will help inform a global conversation about how families can integrate technology into their lives in thoughtful and productive ways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Willow Bay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows that families in Japan and the US struggle in very similar ways with how technology is affecting their lives, their relationships and each other.Willow Bay, Dean and Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and JournalismLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/838632017-09-12T15:12:00Z2017-09-12T15:12:00ZIs the new iPhone designed for cybersafety?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185682/original/file-20170912-19534-1e47igo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How safe is it to use an iPhone?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/orvieto-italy-december-27th-2014-lego-241123330">Mesk Photography/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As eager customers <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/12/16268126/apple-event-live-stream-time-new-iphone-x-8-schedule">meet the new iPhone</a>, they’ll explore the <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2017/">latest installment</a> in Apple’s decade-long drive to make sleeker and sexier phones. But to me as a scholar of cybersecurity, these revolutionary innovations have not come without compromises.</p>
<p>Early iPhones literally put the “smart” in the smartphone, connecting texting, internet connectivity and telephone capabilities in one intuitive device. But many of Apple’s decisions about the iPhone were <a href="http://www.designdriveninnovation.com/letter.html">driven by design</a> – including wanting to <a href="https://www.cultofmac.com/441206/today-in-apple-history-its-time-to-think-different/">be different</a> or to <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-steve-jobs-love-of-simplicity-fueled-a-design-revolution-23868877/">make things simpler</a> – rather than for practical reasons.</p>
<p>Many of these innovations – some starting in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-steve-jobs-first-iphone-10-years-ago-legendary-keynote-macworld-sale-2017-6">very first iPhone</a> – became standards that other device makers eventually followed. And while Apple has <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/its-about-to-get-tougher-for-cops-border-agents-to-get-at-your-iphones-data/">steadily strengthened the encryption</a> of the data on its phones, other developments have made people less safe and secure.</p>
<h2>The lights went out</h2>
<p>Among Apple’s earliest design decisions was to exclude an incoming email indicator light – the <a href="http://pocketnow.com/2012/04/19/notification-leds-are-a-dead-art">little blinking LED</a> that was common in many smartphones in 2007. LEDs could be programmed to flash differently, even using different colors to indicate whom an incoming email was from. That made it possible for people to be alerted to new messages – and decide whether to ignore them or respond – from afar.</p>
<p>Its absence meant that the only way for users of the iPhone to know of unread messages was by interacting with the phone’s screen – which many people now do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.035">countless times each day</a>, in hopes of seeing a new email or other notification message. In psychology, we call this a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.035">variable reinforcement mechanism</a>” – when rewards are received at unpredictable intervals – which is the basis for how <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10899-009-9156-6">slot machines</a> in Las Vegas keep someone playing. </p>
<p>This new distraction has <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-our-smartphones-afflicting-us-all-with-symptoms-of-adhd-58330">complicated social interactions</a> and makes people physically less safe, causing both <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2017/04/04/more-evidence-that-smartphones-and-driving-dont-mix/">distracted driving</a> and even <a href="http://www.govtech.com/policy/Honolulu-Distracted-Walking-Law-Outlaws-Texting-within-Crosswalks.html">inattentive walking</a>.</p>
<h2>Email loses its head, literally</h2>
<p>Another problem with iOS Mail is a major design flaw: It does not display full <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/CSNT.2013.78">email headers</a> – the part of each message that tells users where the email is coming from. These can be viewed on all computer-based email programs – and shortened versions are available on Android email programs. </p>
<p>Cybersecurity awareness trainers regularly tell users to always review header data to <a href="https://www.olympus.net/help-center/email-support/general-email/how-to-analyze-full-email-headers-for-phishing-scams">assess an email’s legitimacy</a>. But this information is completely unavailable on Apple iOS Mail – meaning even if you suspect a spear-phishing email, there is really no way to detect it – which is another reason that more people fall victim to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.035">spear-phishing attacks on their phones</a> than on their computers.</p>
<h2>Safari gets dangerous</h2>
<p>The iOS web browser is another casualty of iOS’s minimalism, because Apple designers removed important security indicators. For instance, all encrypted websites – where the URL displays that little lock icon next to the website’s name – possess an <a href="https://www.globalsign.com/en/ssl-information-center/what-is-an-ssl-certificate/">encryption certificate</a>. This certificate helps verify the true identity of a webpage and can be viewed on all desktop computer browsers by simply clicking on the lock icon. It can also be viewed on the Google Chrome browser for iOS by simply tapping on the lock icon. </p>
<p>But there is no way to view the certificate using the iPhone’s Safari – meaning if a webpage appears suspicious, there is no way to verify its authenticity.</p>
<h2>Everyone knows where you stand</h2>
<p>A major iPhone innovation – building in high-quality front and back cameras and photo-sharing capabilities – completely changed how people capture and display their memories and helped drive the rise of social media. But the iPhone’s camera captures more than just selfies.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185696/original/file-20170912-3785-1cy7mgc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An iPhone camera knows a lot about where users are taking pictures – and can share that data with the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The iPhone defaults to doing something many smartphones now can do: including in each image file <a href="http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/03/09/how-to-view-iphone-photos-metadata/">metadata</a> with the date, time and <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/211427/how-to-see-exactly-where-a-photo-was-taken-and-keep-your-location-private/">location details</a> – latitude and longitude – where the photo was taken. Most users remain unaware that most online services include this information in posted pictures – making it possible for anyone to know exactly where the photograph someone just shared was taken. A criminal could use that information to find out when a person is not at home and burglarize the place then, as the infamous Hollywood “<a href="http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/real-bling-ring-where-are-they-now.html">Bling Ring</a>” did with social media posts.</p>
<p>In the 10 years since the first iPhone arrived, cyberattacks have evolved and the cybersecurity <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ldquo-spear-phishing-rdquo-roiled-the-presidential-campaign-mdash-here-rsquo-s-how-to-protect-yourself/">stakes are higher for individuals</a>. The main concern used to be viruses targeting corporate networks; now the biggest problem is attackers targeting users directly using spear-phishing emails and spoofed websites.</p>
<p>Today, unsafe decisions are far easier to make on your phone than on your computer. And more people now <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/press/mobile-and-tablet-internet-usage-exceeds-desktop-for-first-time-worldwide">use their phones</a> for doing more things than ever before. Making phones slimmer, shinier and sexier is great. But making sure every user can make cybersafe decisions is yet to be “Designed by Apple.” Here’s hoping the next iPhone does that.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was updated at 7:10 p.m. on September 12, 2017, to clarify that the iPhone is not the only smartphone that saves location information in photos.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arun Vishwanath receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Some of the iPhone’s innovations have made users less secure.Arun Vishwanath, Associate Professor of Communication, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/583302016-05-09T15:17:15Z2016-05-09T15:17:15ZAre our smartphones afflicting us all with symptoms of ADHD?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121431/original/image-20160505-13461-1cyzxy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A common sight: smartphones at mealtime.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-359132504/stock-photo-friends-with-smartphones-dining-at-restaurant.html">Phones at dinner via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When was the last time you opened your laptop midconversation or brought your desktop computer to the dinner table? Ridiculous, right? But if you are like a large number of Americans, you have done both with your smartphone.</p>
<p>Less than a decade after the introduction of the first iPhone, more people <a href="http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/files/doc_library/additional/2015_BAC_Trends_in_Consumer_Mobility_Report.pdf">reach for their smartphones first thing</a> in the morning than reach for coffee, a toothbrush or even the partner lying next to them in bed. During the day, with a smartphone in our pocket, we can check our email while spending time with our children just as easily as we can text a friend while at work. And regardless of what we are doing, many of us are <a href="http://www.kpcb.com/blog/2013-internet-trends">bombarded by notifications</a> of new messages, social media posts, breaking news, app updates and more.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/you-will-be-distracted-while-you-listen-podcast/">Anecdotal evidence</a> suggests that this pervasiveness of smartphones is making us increasingly distracted and hyperactive. These presumed symptoms of constant digital stimulation also happen to characterize a well-known neurodevelopmental disorder: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Could the pinging and dinging of our smartphones be afflicting even those of us not suffering from ADHD with some of that condition’s symptoms? As a behavioral scientist, I set out to test this idea in a well-controlled experiment.</p>
<h2>Studying digital interruption</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I recruited 221 millennials – students at the University of British Columbia – to participate in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858359">two-week study</a>. Importantly, these participants were recruited from the university’s general participant pool, rather than from a population of students diagnosed with ADHD. </p>
<p>During the first week, we asked half the participants to minimize phone interruptions by activating the “do-not-disturb” settings and keeping their phones out of sight and far from reach. We instructed the other half to keep their phone alerts on and their phones nearby whenever possible.</p>
<p>In the second week, we reversed the instructions: Participants who had used their phones’ “do-not-disturb” settings switched on phone alerts, and vice versa. The order in which we gave the instructions to each participant was randomly determined by a flip of a coin. This study design ensured that everything was kept constant, except for how frequently people were interrupted by their phones. We confirmed that people felt more interrupted by their phones when they had their phone alerts on, as opposed to having them off. </p>
<h2>Measuring inattentiveness and hyperactivity</h2>
<p>We measured inattentiveness and hyperactivity by asking participants to identify how frequently they had experienced 18 symptoms of ADHD over each of the two weeks. These items were based on the criteria for diagnosing ADHD in adults as specified by the American Psychiatric Association’s <a href="http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual</a> (DSM-V). </p>
<p>The inattentiveness questions covered a wide range of potential problems, such as making careless mistakes, forgetting to pay a bill and having difficulty sustaining attention or listening to others. The hyperactivity questions were similarly broad, assessing things like fidgeting, feeling restless, excessive talking and interrupting others. </p>
<p>The results were clear: more frequent phone interruptions made people less attentive and more hyperactive.</p>
<p>Because ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with complex neurological and developmental causes, these findings in no way suggest that smartphones can cause ADHD. And our research certainly does not show that reducing phone interruptions can treat ADHD. But our findings do have implications for all of us who feel interrupted by our phones. </p>
<h2>Smartphone ubiquity poses risks</h2>
<p>These findings should concern us. Smartphones are the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21645180-smartphone-ubiquitous-addictive-and-transformative-planet-phones">fastest-selling</a> electronic gadget in history – in the 22 seconds it took to type this sentence, 1,000 smartphones were shipped to their new owners. Even if one of those 1,000 users became more likely to make a careless mistake, ignore a friend in the middle of a conversation or space out during a meeting, smartphones could be harming the productivity, relationships and well-being of millions. </p>
<p>As with all disorders, symptoms of ADHD form a continuum from the normal to the pathological. Our findings suggest that our incessant digital stimulation is contributing to an increasingly problematic deficit of attention in modern society. So consider silencing your phone – even when you are not in the movie theater. Your brain will thank you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kostadin Kushlev has received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Anecdotal evidence suggests the pervasiveness of smartphones is making us increasingly distracted and hyperactive. Does research support that conclusion?Kostadin Kushlev, Research Associate in Psychology, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435722015-07-07T08:59:03Z2015-07-07T08:59:03ZThe value of unplugging in the Age of Distraction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86288/original/image-20150624-31514-n5hh9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small device, but very demanding. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mean-machine/6078011142/in/photolist-ag6oXy-rMF3c9-rMME7r-8nJeGe-nWwc4N-arpxyr-hHCyWm-bLPCz2-6FCzJa-boMxDB-boM6hr-nYyJCc-7fC5iG-7V7Y3w-nMFSb9-boMx9T-boLVQP-85YfZC-6GwzYu-boM2BH-boMavK-pg3XzX-boM36a-boM6Pk-boMbUD-boLRb4-boM18v-boMyn8-boM9Dt-hERJkT-boLZ3F-boLUg8-boLXhR-boLRst-boLSq8-boMbyB-boLZdv-boM8pe-boLYA8-boLZB6-boM4Dz-boLSVP-boM7Re-boLRRe-boMa2F-boMd4F-boMcDX-boLTxe-boM3Z4-boMdwi/">aciej_ie/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A common experience: you are walking down the street and someone is walking in the opposite direction toward you. You see him but he does not see you. He is texting or looking at his cellphone. He is distracted, trying to do two things at the same time, walking and communicating. </p>
<p>There is also the telltale recognition of a car driver on a phone; she’s driving either too slowly or too fast for the surrounding conditions, only partly connected to what is going on around her. Connected to someone else in another place, she is not present in the here and now. </p>
<p>These types of occurrences are now common enough that we can label our time as the age of distraction. </p>
<h2>A dangerous condition</h2>
<p>The age of distraction is dangerous. A 2015 report by the National Safety Council showed that walking while texting increases the risk of accidents. More than <a href="https://www.nsc.org/in-the-newsroom/distracted-walking-injuries-on-the-rise-52-percent-occur-at-home">11,000 people</a> were injured between 2000 and 2011 while walking and talking on their phones. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Really bad idea: texting while driving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackeycove/3647897679/in/photolist-6ymqTz-c5sSU3-7ASHom-7ANVXv-7ANVxZ-7ASH5u-7ASGZs-7ASHmE-7ASHAA-7ANVF6-7ASH2E-7ASHbU-7ANVGP-7ASHxu-7ANVBk-7ASHrY-7ASHqm-7ANVpK-7ASHtQ-7ASHpj-7ANW1X-7ASHvo-7ANVvi-7ANVD4-7ASH47-7ASHjN-ddvenY-ddveNF-ddvg9q-ddvff9-ddvdo8-ddveEj-ddvedR-ddvhCJ-ddvgxd-ddvge4-ddvhiq-ddvfQ3-7yjCYS-2qMt8E-usNLV9-usNASG-usNLuu-uKCYoZ-usNMC1-uJWdfQ-tNnZnf-tNxThP-usWEcT-uH5cGf">Paul Oka/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even more dangerous is the <a href="http://www.nsc.org/DistractedDrivingDocuments/The-Great-Multitasking-Lie-print.pdf">distracted car driver</a>. Distracted drivers have more fluctuating speed, change lanes fewer times than is necessary and in general make driving for everyone less safe and less <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435680/">efficient</a>.</p>
<p>Texting while driving resulted in 16,000 additional road fatalities from 2001 to 2007. More than 21% of vehicle accidents are now attributable to drivers talking on cellphones and another <a href="http://www.undistracteddrivingadvocacy.net/linked/wilson_trends_in_fatalities_from_distracted_driving_in_the_united_states_1999_to_2008.pdf">5% were text messaging</a>.</p>
<h2>Cognitive impairment</h2>
<p>Multitasking relatively complex functions, such as operating handheld devices to communicate while walking or driving, is not so much an efficient use of our time as a suboptimal use of our skills. </p>
<p>We are more efficient users of information when we concentrate on one task at a time. When we try to do more than one thing, we suffer from inattention blindness, which is failing to recognize other things, such as people walking toward us or other road users. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Digital devices, which are proliferating in our lives, encourage multitasking, but does this really help our performance?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3071055422/in/photolist-5FnXMq-4bdPeu-oaeRnf-5FJTyM-b6o1Z-6UsjAC-4uNX4u-bEtsqs-5EC3Sb-8dBff4-7Xmtab-cCGnZE-kjrqx-dXxjd7-7MuTo7-3agepd-5CK8hj-pae1Qy-5RCVaP-EMpVU-8kbzxQ-nCZ8js-fxnWdn-pc7gos-fM2dv-8tf56b-2WrE-jHQNom-38EQiE-546LAj-53Sfvi-ujgnJ-nYYFun-eeLJ3B-9z6PCX-kB2EMk-4y2mwB-9pnmx8-nXCwFw-5RiEbb-tMQoq-dtZiwk-2KGwLd-8GLhXU-gpJtY6-6iyKgK-DVbyu-5Zef2Z-8sPUbP-4NKwGs">Thomas Hawk/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Multitaskers do worse on standard tests of pattern recognition and memory recall. In a now <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/37/15583.long">classic study</a>, researchers at Stanford University found that multitaskers were less efficient because they were more susceptible to using irrelevant information and drawing on inappropriate memories. </p>
<p>Multitasking may not be all that good for you either. A 2010 survey of over 2,000 8- to 12-year-old girls in the US and Canada found that media multitasking was associated with <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clifford_Nass2/publication/228453286_Media_use_face-to-face_communication_media_multitasking_and_social_well-being_among_8-to_12-year-old_girls/links/02bfe50cb68174ee6f000000.pdf">negative social indicators</a>, while face-to-face contact was associated with more positive social indicators such as social success, feelings of normalcy and hours of sleep (vital for young people). </p>
<p>Although the causal mechanism has yet to be fully understood – that is, what causes what – the conclusion is that media multitasking is not a source of happiness. </p>
<h2>Distraction-seeking creatures?</h2>
<p>There are a number of reasons behind this growing distraction. </p>
<p>One often-cited reason is the pressure of time. There is less time to accomplish all that we need to do. Multitasking then is the result of the pressure to do more things in the same limited time. But <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest.89.2.374#.VYa37ev6SEk">numerous studies</a> point to the discretionary use of time among the more affluent, and especially more affluent men. The crunch of time varies by gender and class. And, paradoxically, it is less of an objective constraint for those who often <a href="http://jamesmahmudrice.info/Time-Pressure.pdf">articulate it most</a>.</p>
<p>Although the time crunch is a reality, especially for many women and lower-income groups, the age of distraction is not simply a result of a time crunch. It may also reflect another form of being. We need to reconsider what it means to be human, not as continuous thought-bearing and task-completing beings but as distraction-seeking creatures that want to escape the bonds of the here-and-nowness with the <a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=18413">constant allure of someone and somewhere else</a>. </p>
<p>Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff asserts that our sense of time has been warped into a frenzied present tense of what he calls “digiphrenia,” the social media-created effect of being in multiple places and <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/astrostyle-20/detail/1591844762">more than one self all at once</a>.</p>
<p>There is also something sadder at work. The constant messaging, emailing and cellphoning, especially in public places, may be less about communicating with the people on the other end as about signaling to those around that you are so busy or so important, so connected, that you exist in more than just the here and now, clearly a diminished state of just being. </p>
<p>There’s greater status in being highly connected and constantly communicating. This may explain why many people speak so loudly on their cellphones in public places.</p>
<h2>Reactions</h2>
<p>The age of distraction is so recent we have yet to fully grasp it. Sometimes art is a good mediator of the very new. </p>
<p>A video art installation by Siebren Verstag is entitled<a href="https://vimeo.com/10882097"> Neither There nor There</a>. It consists of two screens. On one side a man sits looking at his phone; slowly his form loosens as pixels move to the adjacent screen and back again. The man’s form moves from screen to screen, in two places at one time but not fully in either. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-smart-is-it-to-allow-students-to-use-mobile-phones-at-school-40621">study</a> that looked at the effect of banning cellphones in schools found that student achievement improved when cellphone were banned, with the greatest improvements accruing to lower-achieving students, who gained the equivalent of an additional hour of learning a week.</p>
<p>On many college campuses, faculty now have a closed-laptop policy after finding students would use their open laptops to skim their emails, surf the web and distract their neighbors. This was confirmed by <a href="http://www.ugr.es/%7Evictorhs/recinfo/docs/10.1.1.9.9018.pdf">studies</a> that showed that students with open laptops learned less and could recall less than students with their laptops closed.</p>
<p>We are witnessing a cultural shift occurring with the banning of devices, cellphone usage being curtailed in certain public places and policies banning texting while driving. This is reactive. We also need a new proactive civic etiquette so that the distracted walker, driver and talker have to navigate new codes of public behaviors. </p>
<p>Many coffee stores in Australia, for example, do not not allow people to order at the counter <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/ban-mobile-phones-retailers-say-20130703-2pbzr.html">when they are on the cellphone</a>, more <a href="http://www.emilypost.com/out-and-about/sports-and-recreation/678-cell-phones-a-golf">golf clubs</a> are banning the use of cellphones while on the course and it is illegal in <a href="http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html">38 states</a> in the US for novice drivers to use a cellphone while driving. </p>
<p>There is also the personal decision available to us all, one foreshadowed by writer and social critic Siegfried Kracauer, who lived from 1889 to 1966. In a <a href="http://monoskop.org/images/0/0f/Kracauer_Siegfried_The_Mass_Ornament_Weimar_Essays.pdf">newspaper article</a> on the impact of modernity, first published in 1924, he complained of the constant stimulation, the advertising and the mass media that all conspired to create a “permanent receptivity” that prefigures our own predicament in a world of constant texting, messaging and cellphones. </p>
<p>One response, argued Kracauer, is to surrender yourself to the sofa and do nothing, in order to achieve a “kind of bliss that is almost unearthly.”</p>
<p>One radical response is to unplug and disconnect, live in the moment and concentrate on doing one important thing at a time. Try it for an hour, then for a day. You can even call your friends to tell them about your success – just not while walking or driving, or working on your computer screen or speaking loudly in a public place.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to correct the figure regarding the number of injuries from texting and walking.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rennie Short does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As summer vacations approach, it’s worth recalling the value of disconnecting and perils of multitasking in our digitally distracted lifestyles.John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427382015-06-11T11:07:05Z2015-06-11T11:07:05ZWithout teacher guidance, all the tech in the world will be quite useless<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84429/original/image-20150609-10720-14x7hpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can technology be harnessed to teach children in an effective way?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/4063885464/in/photolist-dZau8h-7c3Ldk-7c3HDr-7c7veN-7c3GgH-7c7tyL-7c7s8L-7c7unN-7c7sMo-7c7zvY-7c7wSY-7c7yzY-7c7rtC-94EcJg-6T2Wt9-9bBdFG-8nyNVd-3oxYh-9NELbX-5A6y2h-5mP2XB-5mThfW-7Mxqhz-7MBpFo-7wigCB-rcd28x-8Rz6N3-6xd89E-6vSCa-ttunps-68xxks-bNpR4v-8mVc4V-6xcFLL-8TntHw">Frederick Noronha fredericknoronha1@gmail.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A couple of years ago, I taught an afterschool class at a Seattle nonprofit, the <a href="http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/TechnologyAccessFoundation.aspx">Technology Access Foundation (TAF),</a> which provides STEM education (science, technology, engineering, math) to children from less-privileged backgrounds. My students were 8-11 years old, and it was the first time that I had taught elementary school students.</p>
<p>The curriculum devised by TAF’s staff involves hands-on interaction with laptops to explore programming, robotics and audio editing. With a PhD in computer science and a range of experience teaching older students, I thought it would be easy. </p>
<p>It was anything but. </p>
<p>To allow students a lot of interaction with their devices, I avoided lectures and instead had the students work on their own while I went from table to table to help them individually. My hope was to give the children a chance to learn at their own pace.</p>
<p>The students, however, had other ideas. The minute I turned my attention to one, the others started playing video games. However nutritious the syllabus, they were drawn to the cognitive candy of flashy graphics and sound effects.</p>
<p>The problem I faced at TAF was a small version of the conundrum that confronts parents and schools everywhere: how do we prepare children for a technological world while avoiding the distractions of technology?</p>
<h2>Diversions in India</h2>
<p>I first encountered this problem about a decade ago in India. At the time, I was the head of a research team at <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/global/india/">Microsoft Research</a> in Bangalore. My group explored ways in which computing technology could support poor communities. Education was one of our focuses.</p>
<p>Many Indian government schools boasted computer labs, but given limited funds, they often had no more than five or six PCs. With class sizes of 40 or more, this inevitably meant that crowds of children would huddle around each machine, with most of them unable to access the mouse or keyboard.</p>
<p>We tried an innovation in which a single PC was outfitted with multiple mice, each with an attendant cursor on screen. This customized educational software, called MultiPoint, allowed several students to interact simultaneously.</p>
<p>MultiPoint was a hit with students. <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1240624.1240864">A controlled trial</a> showed that for some exercises, students could learn as much when they were sitting five to a PC as when they had a PC all to themselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84453/original/image-20150609-10675-dlp7ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Technology Access Foundation student sneaking in a video game during an afterschool programming class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kentaro Toyama</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, when we tried to take the idea to other schools, we were stymied. </p>
<p>One problem we often encountered was that teachers would be overwhelmed with the mechanics of the technology. Without a dedicated IT staff or significant training themselves, they’d spend the first 15-20 minutes of a 50-minute class fiddling with the PCs to set them up. </p>
<p>Whatever the technology’s potential, in actuality, time was diverted from learning. </p>
<h2>Technology’s law of amplification</h2>
<p>Similar things happened in dozens of other projects we ran in <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2369220.2369248">education</a>, <a href="http://itidjournal.org/itid/article/view/327">agriculture</a>, <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2369253">healthcare</a> and so on. Despite our best efforts at good design, computing technology did not, in and of itself, lower costs, improve pedagogy, or make organizations more efficient.</p>
<p>Teachers didn’t improve just by using digital content; administrators didn’t become better managers through clever gadgets; and budgets didn’t grow with the use of supposedly cost-saving machines. </p>
<p>Anurag Behar, CEO of a nonprofit we worked with, <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/Y3Rhb5CXMkGuUIyg4nrc3I/Limits-of-ICT-in-education.html">put it</a> succinctly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At its best, the fascination with [digital technology] as a solution distracts from the real issues.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Contrary to Silicon Valley hype, machines don’t add a fixed benefit wherever they’re used. Instead, <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1940772">technology amplifies underlying human forces</a> – the unproductive ones as much as the beneficial ones. My book, <a href="http://geekheresy.org">Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology</a>, explains in detail why technology by itself doesn’t solve deep social problems. </p>
<p>Other researchers have found a similar pattern. University of California, Irvine, researcher, <a href="http://education.uci.edu/person/warschauer_m/warschauer_m_bio.php">Mark Warschauer</a>, along with colleagues <a href="http://www.montclair.edu/profilepages/view_profile.php?username=knobelm">Michele Knobel</a> and Leeann Stone, sums up this challenge in <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/18/4/562.short">his paper</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Placing computers and internet connections in [low-income] schools, in and of itself, does little to address the serious educational challenges faced by these schools. To the extent that an emphasis on provision of equipment draws attention away from other important resources and interventions, such an emphasis can in fact be counterproductive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, while digital tools can augment the efforts of a well-run learning environment, they harm dysfunctional schools by distracting them from their goals. </p>
<p>The amplification principle also applies at the individual level.</p>
<p>Children have both a drive to learn and an affinity for quick rewards – digital aids amplify both. Few people would imagine that children left in a room with an encyclopedia and enticing toys (even educational ones) could, on their own, summit the intellectual mountain that is a K-12 education. </p>
<p>Handing students a computing device and expecting them to teach themselves is the virtual equivalent of being left in such a room. Rigorous research by <a href="http://economics.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=rfairlie">economists Robert Fairlie</a> and <a href="http://people.ucsc.edu/%7Ejmrtwo/">Jonathan Robinson</a> finds that laptops provided free to students result in no educational gains of any kind. </p>
<p>In other words, while technology can amplify good pedagogy, there is no way around quality adult guidance for real learning.</p>
<h2>People first, technology second</h2>
<p>At TAF, I was lucky to have a good manager and several terrific teachers as role models. They recommended that I set some rules. For example, I asked students to close their screens any time I was doing a demonstration. I prohibited free time with the laptops if they came early, so that they wouldn’t start off with games. And anyone caught playing video games during class was sent to my manager for a few words of discipline. </p>
<p>Implementing these rules was a challenge at first, but young children are mercifully responsive to firm adult direction. Within a couple of classes, the students got used to the new class culture, and they started focusing on the learning activities. </p>
<p>What I learned was that even in a class about computers, maximizing screen time wasn’t the goal. The first requirement is the proper mindset – focused motivation in students and capable adult supervision. </p>
<p>If technology amplifies human forces, then a good outcome with technology requires that the right human forces be in place first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kentaro Toyama is affiliated with Digital Green (board chair), Village Health Works (board member), Humanosphere (board member), Innovations for Poverty Action(board member), Grameen Foundation (advisory board), IICD (advisory board).</span></em></p>How can we prepare children for a tech world while fighting the distractions it inevitably brings?Kentaro Toyama, Associate Professor, Technology and Global Development, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.