By the time the 15 minutes were up, they had spent only about 65 percent of the observation period actually doing their schoolwork.
Attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment while studying, doing homework, or even sitting in class has become common behavior among young people—so common that many of them rarely write a paper or complete a problem set any other way.
o detrimental is this practice that some researchers are proposing that a new prerequisite for academic and even professional success—the new marshmallow test of self-discipline—is the ability to resist a blinking inbox or a buzzing phone.
One large survey found that 80 percent of college students admit to texting during class; 15 percent say they send 11 or more texts in a single class period.
f you’re paying attention to your phone, you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in class.”
Now that these devices have been admitted into classrooms and study spaces, it has proven difficult to police the line between their approved and illicit uses by students.
ut listening to a lecture while texting, or doing homework and being on Facebook—each of these tasks is very demanding, and each of them uses the same area of the brain, the prefrontal cortex.”
First
Second
assignment takes longe
more mistakes.
Third,
memory of what they’re working on will be impaired
Fourth
ur brains actually process and store information in different, less useful ways