The Multitasking Generation an Article by Claudia Wallis

1005 Words3 Pages

Though there are some positive effects, the adverse impact of technology on education has been extraordinary. The technology community has worked hard to bring useful technology into our classrooms, all with good intentions to broaden our knowledge. With these good intentions also came about unwanted side effects such as distraction and disruption in the classroom. I can clearly remember many of my teachers yelling at us to put our cell phones, iPods, and iTouch phones away especially during lecture and exams. The yelling was not without just cause, students cheated with their devices along with updating their Facebook pages during class too. Though being exposed to technologies like computers from an early age may have given us the ability to do things more efficiently, technology has also made us less dependent on ourselves. Claudia Wallis, editor for Time, in her article makes known in The Multitasking Generation, “That level of multiprocessing and interpersonal connectivity is now so commonplace that it’s easy to forget how quickly it came about. Fifteen years ago, most home computers weren’t even linked to the Internet” (63). There are many things that students are able to do on their computer that their parents aren't even aware of or that the parents couldn’t do themselves. My parents always tell of how looking through the library’s card catalog and searching for the books they needed only to find out that they have been taken out. Computers have allowed us to do many things faster for example, write much faster than a typewriter or pen and paper and correct typing errors without starting over. The computers and technology we now have makes it easier to almost anything and with technology so easily at your fingertips it o... ... middle of paper ... ... there is no doubt that it will be used as an educational tool and just as there are concerns now, there will be concerns then. I believe that in the following years physical classrooms will be a thing of the past, with virtual classrooms becoming the norm. With these virtual classrooms there will be even more cause for concern, and if they do become the norm who knows what other sources of distractions there will be. There will always be technology as long as there are people whether for better or for worse and their advances will always be debated. Technology such as computers, iPads, and cell phones should be used modestly in the classroom. Using technology for everything during our daily lives hampers our own independence. To stay sharp minded in the classroom, people need to rely more on them and less on the technology that dominates their life today.

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