ThreeFiftyMainStreet: Paying Attention Digitally

Are mobile devices in classrooms a distraction? Do they help or hinder learning?
This video trended last week and had hundreds of thousands of views. It serves as a funny segue to the point of the article posted below.

The gist of the article is that there are definite negatives to using mobile devices in the classroom. There are many examples of innovative uses as well, (which I plan to highlight in future posts), but the biggest drawback that our society is experiencing is that it may be destroying our ability to actually pay attention.

(excerpt from Mobile Devices:Driving Us to Distraction)
What We Know So Far

Although some educators are using mobile devices in innovative ways, for the most part such approaches are too new to have been subjected to rigorous research. The research we do have on digital devices provides some caveats:

Laptop use in classrooms may actually diminish attention and focus. One study of college students found that students who brought laptops to class performed significantly worse in the course than those who did not (Fried, 2008). Another study found that students who were directed to leave their laptops open demonstrated less learning than students who were told to leave their laptops shut (Hembrooke & Gay, 2003).
Interruptions caused by texting decrease attention and comprehension. A study of 185 college students found that those who were frequently interrupted by texting (receiving or sending 16 or more texts during a 30-minute period) later recalled significantly less content than students who sent or received fewer than seven texts (Rosen, Lim, Carrier, & Cheever, 2011).
Mobile devices and the Internet may be habit-forming. Sinek (2014) observes that those chimes, likes, and pokes give our brains a shot of dopamine—a powerful chemical that is "highly, highly addictive" (p. 43). In Europe and East Asia, in fact, Internet addiction is regarded as such a growing crisis that counseling agencies and rehab clinics have flourished in response (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008)