Is distraction really the issue?

I love how things tie together sometimes — without any intention on my part, connections just randomly appear while I browse.  Yesterday morning, I watched the following video and immediately bookmarked it as one of my new favourites.  

Then, this morning, I stumbled across a NY Times article: Growing Up Digital: Wired for Distraction.  It profiles Vishal Singh, a 17-year-old high school student with a passion for film making.  While the article quotes researchers saying things like, “their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing”, we are later told how Vishal can spend 8 hours filming and 8 hours editing to create 3 minutes of film.  Hmmm … does this sound like someone who can’t stay on task?  Seems to me he knows how to find his ”flow” … he’s found his passion.  I also get the impression that he feels bad about this, like he’s doing something wrong … why is that?    

His high school film teacher remarks on Vishal’s talent, but the suggestion is that he may not get into university to study film because of his marks in English and Latin.  We get an idea of what’s going in English class too.  The teacher feels the need to have the students read out loud together, blaming technology for this regression from what once could’ve been a more rich classroom discussion because  ”students now lack the attention span to read the assignments on their own”.  While I completely agree that they will not become good writers by watching YouTube, texting and emailing in “iText”, I’m not sure they’ll become good writers by sitting in a class for an hour reading a text out loud to each other either.

It’s quite something how some educators have come to view technology as the enemy, instead of looking for creative ways to use it for the benefit of their students.  While there are some teachers who are giving their students the opportunity to inquire, create, and collaborate — making learning fun and promoting skills that will make students independent, life-long learners — there are still so many others that continue to grip onto a pedagogical approach that was floundering long before Web 2.0, only now it seems they have something to blame. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t believe that it’s good for any of us to become so immersed in technology that we no longer appreciate the feel of a good book in our hands.  But isn’t that where we all come in … to teach students not only how they can best use technology as learners and creators, but also to show them how they can find balance in their lives, and why that’s a good thing?