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We’ve never lived in a time when information comes quite as fast as it does, and one of
the things it’s important to help young people is how to sort it – what’s useful
and what’s not useful. The problem I think a lot of educators face today isn't so much
the speed of information; it’s holding the attention of young people.
I heard an educator give a speech a couple of years ago in which he talked about how
a student always came to class in the morning all bleary-eyed and said I’ve been up all
night doing my homework but they didn't seem to know anything. And upon further investigation
he discovered what they meant is that their laptop was open for six hours last night but
the amount that they actually spent on the school work was very small compared to the
time they were spending on Facebook and watching videos on You Tube and doing a variety of
other things. The point is that we have to somehow find
ways to help young people learn to budget their time and to be sensible about their
time. There was a study at Rutgers a few years ago
in which a professor had a group of 82 students to go without their cell phones for two days
to see what the effects would be. Only one quarter of the students could finish the study.
Three quarters of the students could not go without their cell phones for two days. They
dropped out of the study in less than two days. This is what one is battling with.
The problem isn't the speed at which information flows; the problem is getting people--young
people to budget their time and in particular to leave time for reflection and also for
rest.