How difficult is it nowadays to engage the whole family in a talk? Or if you’re a teacher, how difficult is it to engage a class of students?
There has been much debate in the last few years about the role cell phones and other digital media has played in making face-to-face discussions at home and in school more difficult. A teacher and former colleague recently told me that students even use their phones to order food to be delivered to the classroom. When I asked why she put up with it, she said she couldn’t do anything about it. It was too engrained in the school (and national) culture.
I find this frightening. How can anyone learn well, or engage with others in meaningful discussions, when their attention is tuned to the expectation of a text? To say, “nothing can be done about this situation” reminds me of the discussion of bullying 20-30 years ago, when people said, “It’s just the time of life when children bully.”
Self-Reflective Questions for Parents and Teachers About Media Use
Teachers and other adults can be as addicted to their devices as children. We can all benefit by increasing our self-awareness and asking ourselves:
How much time do you spend on your phone, computer, and social media?
How do you feel when you see your children on their phones when you are trying to talk with them? How do you think they feel when you are on the phone when they are trying to talk with you? Who do you prioritize: the person standing before you, or the one on the phone?
Did you want to stop reading this post as soon as you realized what it was about? ….
Are We Undermining Our Children’s Education? A Mindful Use of Digital Media in the Home and Classroom
How difficult is it nowadays to engage the whole family in a talk? Or if you’re a teacher, how difficult is it to engage a class of students?
There has been much debate in the last few years about the role cell phones and other digital media has played in making face-to-face discussions at home and in school more difficult. A teacher and former colleague recently told me that students even use their phones to order food to be delivered to the classroom. When I asked why she put up with it, she said she couldn’t do anything about it. It was too engrained in the school (and national) culture.
I find this frightening. How can anyone learn well, or engage with others in meaningful discussions, when their attention is tuned to the expectation of a text? To say, “nothing can be done about this situation” reminds me of the discussion of bullying 20-30 years ago, when people said, “It’s just the time of life when children bully.”
Self-Reflective Questions for Parents and Teachers About Media Use
Teachers and other adults can be as addicted to their devices as children. We can all benefit by increasing our self-awareness and asking ourselves:
How much time do you spend on your phone, computer, and social media?
How do you feel when you see your children on their phones when you are trying to talk with them? How do you think they feel when you are on the phone when they are trying to talk with you? Who do you prioritize: the person standing before you, or the one on the phone?
Did you want to stop reading this post as soon as you realized what it was about? ….
To read the whole post, please click on this link to Spirit of Change Magazine, which just published the piece.
You might also like
It’s Too Easy to Be Judgmental: Finding the Communion Beyond Calamity
Like It’s so easy to judge ourselves, isn’t it? ‘Judge’ in the sense of putting ourselves down. We do something we think is wrong and we suffer regret. Or we wonder: am I a good person? Is this self-judging a flaw in our character? Something conditioned by culture? Maybe, a way we hurt ourselves?…
Maybe There’s a Joy So Deep the Whole Universe Is in It: The Curious Power of the Wind
Like Sometimes, just staying still and listening to the wind can be an event of great beauty. Nothing else is needed to feel full, satisfied. Happy. Those are rare and glorious moments. Sometimes, wind is a gentle touch, a cooling breeze on a torrid day. Sometimes, it disappears. Sometimes, and too often lately, the…
The Darkness Closest to Us: Don’t Get So Absorbed in the Universe of Words that We Lose the Universe of Being
Like One thing I love about many of my good friends is that they’re honest with me and willing to find and kindly tell me about holes in what I’ve said or argued, and to hear what I didn’t speak. A great friend and college roommate found a point in a recent blog of…
Perceiving Ourselves More Clearly So, We Can Perceive the World Around Us More Clearly and Act More Powerfully
Like A wonderful friend wrote a powerful and frightening article about the situation we humans face right now. I can’t share it here because he’s sent it out and it hasn’t, yet, been published. But I would like to share its central insight. Most of us already know how difficult the situation is now,…
Next ArticleRelieving Student Apathy: Apathy Is A Symptom of Greater Societal Problems