Screens are taking over today; you can find kids addicted to using social media and watching videos on YouTube for hours on end. But the effects of this can actually be frightening. So, what if we propose an idea that these screens get switched off for just a week to let their minds rest, this is called Turn off Your Screen Week. This week can really help many people take a breath from playing video games to staying on social media and even just watching TV. It can give them time to do and try other things. You see, Turn Off Your Screen Week should be a reality in many schools because It helps stop the distractions from your screens, and it helps people focus better. Distractions are a really big problem with our day and age; and as technology …show more content…
So, Turn off Your Screen Week is a great way to lay off the devices that can cause some of these attention and focus problems. One thing known that this week can stop is the random notifications that always pop up on your phone that you are so tempted to look at, you no longer have to worry about. This shows that this week can help you get something done without having to look at your device constantly. So, whether your doing homework, or anything else, these can be very hard to focus with. Another thing is that people everyday are getting less and less sleep and one of the main causes is pretty much screens in general. Either watching TV or sitting looking at social media for a while, either way screens are a culprit. So, once we take away the screens in turn off your screen week, you suddenly have more time to do work in the day so you don’t have to stay up late to get this done. This relates to focus because once you get your work done in the day, you have more time to sleep, which in the end helps you focus. One other example of attention problems come from the fact that screens actually cause and develop a lot of attention problems so people that look at and use screens a lot tend to have a shorter attention span. This shows that turn off your screen week can help people take a break from computers, tablets, and smartphones
I have always found ways of doing my homework assignments while doing something else; mainly due to the fact that I am bored or not totally engaged with the subject. I feel the need to fill the empty space that was revolving around in my mind. When I went to high school there were not any type of digital distractions allowed; we had complete and total silence while completing assignments at school. However, when we got home we turned on the latest episode of “Home Improvement” and did our homework with our TV dad Tim Allen. This was a favorite distraction back then, now the cell phones have become a constant in our lives. “Given that these distractions aren’t going away, academic and even professional achievement may depend on the ability to ignore digital temptation while learning” (Paul 720). I have not owned a cell phone in over five years; even though I do not own one, I have seen numerous people in the classroom setting pop in and out of their messages and social networks. I thought to myself while seeing this, how are people focusing on the assignment before them? I still don’t get it but to each their
Technology can disrupt people’s train of thought. To begin with, many people around the world use technology. Electronics can help students and also affect them in many ways, but whether or not shutting down all electronics can help. Schools should participate in “Shut Down Your Screen Week” because of many reasons.
This insight correlates with the above insight in that I often use homework, which is productive, as a distraction for homework that is more pressing. In addition to using homework as a distraction, Facebook, texting/Snapchat, and side conversations are also distractions that occur on a regular basis. I found that during the time I reserve for more important things, such as homework or spending time with others, I will absentmindedly pick up my phone and become distracted for an extended period of time. It may start with simply replying to a text message and then somehow, I end up on Facebook and its an hour later. The detracts from my flourishing because I am not longer giving my full attention to the things that matter, completing assignments which is helping me work toward my greatest good, or contributing to building my relationships, for the same reason. Something that I have done to combat this form of spiritual apathy is to delete Facebook off my phone and keep my phone on silent, unless I am anticipating a phone call. I feel like for the few short days I have been implementing these things, I already feel more present in my relationships and tasks. I complete tasks faster because I do not have several “breaks” from the habit of checking my phone, and the time that I spending with my family and friends is of greater quality because if I lead by example of keeping my phone
In the current society, there are new technologies every day. As these different technologies increase, the number of users are also increasing. These users are dedicating their time to the Internet. It could be for work, school, or social interactions. School districts are now afraid that students will spend more time on the Internet. Instead, they should be spending their time studying. As a result of this epidemic, schools made an approach to the idea of “Shut Down Your Screen” week. This idea requires the staff and students to have no contact with any type of technology for a whole week. Teachers are not allowed to teach with any SmartBoards, projectors, laptops, or computers. Students are only allowed to learn with textbooks and write on paper. Bayless High School should take part in “Shut Down Your Screen” week because the idea will help students learn better. Also, the usage of social interactions will decrease.
The kids on It List have really helped me. So I don 't get distracted, I actually have an app called "Self-Control" that will make it impossible for you to get on any kind of social media on your computer for however long you say. So I 'll do it for four hours so I can get a break and check everything. But the hardest part is hitting enter--"yes, I want to begin." The four hours of not being on social media. It 's the best thing ever. I wouldn 't get any work done. I used to go to a cafe that didn 't have internet access because it didn 't have internet access. Now that 's where all the writers get stuck. You could do it all day.
Imagine an entire week of class without any cell phones, computers, or any other devices that can cause as a distraction to students, or cause you to lose their attention. Wouldn’t that week just be great? Well this is now a realistic thought, now that “Shut Down Your Screen Week” has been proposed. After reading Social Media as Community, Is Google Making Us Stupid, and Attached to Technology and Paying a Price the decision is clear; we should participate in “Shut Down Your Screen Week”. Although devices, such cellular phones and computers, are time savers and make us more efficient at finding relevant information, a week without them is well in need. This is mainly because the internet and electronic devices can be addictive, cause attention problems, and stop students from learning. We need to come to a halt with our consistent use of digital technology in order to help our students.
However, I feel that mindfulness might be a way to address this issue because it allows us to focus on one task and reduce distractions. When I come home from a tiring day at work, I lie down to rest, but soon after, my iPad and iPhone both start ringing to alert me of emails, text messages, phone application updates, and others responding to my social media statuses. So, I take nearly an hour to read and respond to my emails and text messages. Next, I log into my social media accounts (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) and check my notifications, respond to these notifications, and usually someone sends me a message via Facebook, and a long conversation commences. Afterwards, I might spend an hour playing a game called Bubble Witch Saga on my iPhone, thinking that I have to keep playing to achieve level 700—I am only on level 112.
Electronics can cause us to be distracted, and the results of these distractions cause many problems toward our lives. The author of “Is Google Making us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr, acknowledges the fact that we can’t do any deep thinking with the distractions that technology provides. He explains, “Deep thinking, scientists have discovered, happens only when our minds are calm and attentive.” On technology our minds aren’t calm and attentive. Therefore, we can’t do deep thinking. The author also addresses the fact that when we are distracted, we don’t understand as much, we learn less, and we remember less things. The text “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price, “ by Matt Richtel offers another reason we should shut down our screens, and
Social networks, like Facebook or You Tube can keep someone updated with world events and even local events. It has become part of everyday life in which people can’t live without. But what lies beneath is the evil of how addictive technology can be. The above chart demonstrates that almost 60% of students use electronics more than two hours a day. This shows us that technology can be addictive. Jonathan Mandell’s article Are gadgets, and the Internet, actually addictive, recalls a time in April 2007 when BlackBerry users could not send or receive emails for 11 hours because of a glitch in the system. Many people reported this as a natural disaster (Mandell, 2007). People are relying on technology so much, that it is becoming a major problem in our society when it becomes temporary unavailable. Being able to plan your whole day on your smart phone and lock your front door to your house at the same time contributes to society laziness and dependency on technology. On the chart picture below I surveyed fellow ECPI Students on the question does technology make us lazy and or smatter and this was the results. From this pie chart it’s clearly shown that more than half of the students at ECPI agree that technology is making people lazy. Also the ratio of yes to no is about 6:1, certainly showing that the wrong effects of technology are starting to show up in our society. Choices people make about using their
Would that be possible to stay away from our technology’s devices for just a day? The answer for this question will bring a lot of negative answers, and of course if we ask this question in a survey, “NO” will be the winner of this survey. Talking about the use of technology reminded me one of the sources from my annotated bibliography by Amy Petersen, who is the Theatre and Media Arts Department Chair and Associate Professor in the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University. In her article which she wrote about the overuse of tech in our daily life and its affects, she said “If you would have told me a few years ago that I would feel completely lost without a cell phone, I never would have believed you. Now my iPhone is almost always within reach. My children likely believe that my most important possession is my MacBook Air, which is usually open and on whenever I am in the house. (“Jensen” par. 3)” Yes technology, internet, and cell phone became our best friends, and most of us can’t live without them.
Image a school with laptops available to each student to complete their class notes, teachers who are able to help their students through the screens of their computer, children who are excited to learn about numbers with the help of cute, animated characters. With the endless advancement of today’s technology, schools across the world have begun integrating various technology into their curriculum. These devices have the potential to greatly impact students in their learning. When a school opts to use technology in a school setting, the most important factors they should take into consideration are the benefits of using technological devices, the effectiveness of technology used
According to The Huffington Post, people are on their devices for, on average, about eleven hours and fifty-two minutes a day. That is almost half a day and a lot longer than most people sleep or work. People have not yet realized how they or their families are being affected by this constant use of technology. As a result of technology increasing, children are experiencing health problems, school issues, and social problems. First and foremost, health problems due to the increase in technology usage is becoming a bigger issue than one might think.
A beautiful commercial, “Disconnect to Connect”, which was made by Thailand DTAC Company, shows that there are many people always focusing on their cell phones. The commercial shows a man ignoring his girlfriend who is walking with him on the beach, another man neglecting his friends who are playing piano, and a father overlooking his children who are playing around. Then, they smile and find the happiness of life after they turn off their digital devices. These things happen constantly around us every day. Nowadays, the functions of digital devices are stronger, and our eyes and fingers contribute more time on it. There is no doubt that the digital devices make our life more convenient and easier because people can connect with each other immediately. Nonetheless, people should not spend too much time on digital devices for three main reasons: having less face-to-face communication, depriving people’s brains of needed downtime, and negatively influencing people’s health.
When I set to complete a task that has a possibility to have distractions around me when I’m working on it, I attempt to clear everything that could distract me away from my surroundings in the meantime. For the time that I work on school, I keep my tablet away from my desk and also only have what programs or sites I need to use opened on my Mac to accomplish my schoolwork for the day. Though in my case, sitting in silence is more distracting than calming, so I also have Spotify opened up on the Mac and have music playing while working. Having music on keeps me much more focused on what I need to work on during the few hours I use for school during the day.
We invest more in talking online than talking face to face. Overuse of machines has numerous negative impacts, for example, creating physical/behavioral sicknesses, harming family connections and diminishing scholarly study. Above all else, when a computer turns into the essential issue of an individual's life, they experience a conversion in behavior; they feel that they cannot live without a computer. The normal thing to see with youngsters who have been permitted to invest an excess of time on the computer, optically watching TV, or playing video games and when it is to stop, they have temper tantrums. But it is not only a matter of behavioral progressions when individuals can’t tear themselves away from the screen long enough to join in with whatever possible action, it can take a toll on their comfort and health.