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Every time we pull up a memory, we make it stronger and more lasting, so that testing doesn’t just measure, it changes learning. Simply reading over material to be learned, or even taking notes and making outlines, as many homework assignments require, doesn’t have this effect.

When we work hard to understand information, we recall it better; the extra effort signals the brain that this knowledge is worth keeping. This phenomenon, known as cognitive disfluency

interleaving

Texting, emailing, and posting on Facebook and other social media sites are by far the most common digital activities students undertake while learnin

“Under most conditions, the brain simply cannot do two complex tasks at the same time. It can happen only when the two tasks are both very simple and when they don’t compete with each other for the same mental resources.

They may like to do it, they may even be addicted to it, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s far better to focus on one task from start to finish.”

the assignment takes longer to complete

memory of what they’re working on will be impaired if their attention is divided

The moment of encoding is what matters most for retention

This ability to resist the lure of technology can be consciously cultivated,

“even if distraction does not decrease the overall level of learning, it can result in the acquisition of knowledge that can be applied less flexibly in new situations.”

students who used Facebook during the 15-minute observation period had lower grade-point averages than those who didn’t go on the site

texting and using Facebook—in class and while doing homework—were negatively correlated with college students’ GPAs.

“There’s a definite possibility that we are raising a generation that is learning more shallowly than young people in the past,” he says. “The depth of their processing of information is considerably less, because of all the distractions available to them as they learn.”

academic and even professional achievement may depend on the ability to ignore digital temptations while learning

kids who were better able to delay gratification not only achieved higher grades and test scores but were also more likely to succeed in school and their careers.

hose who were interrupted more often scored worse on a test of the lecture’s content; more interestingly, those who responded to the experimenters’ texts right away scored significantly worse than those participants who waited to reply until the lecture was over.

leads to more mistakes

“Young people’s technology use is really about quelling anxiety,” he contends. “They don’t want to miss out.

Device-checking is a compulsive behavior that must be managed, he says, if young people are to learn and perform at their best.

‘This is a time when you will concentrate on just one thing.’ ”

Just make sure when they’re doing schoolwork, the cellphones are silent, the video screens are dark, and that every last window is closed but one.