Internet takeover

Increasingly complex technology has led to an increase in distracted students

The vibration in your pocket and the buzzing sound accompanied with it startles you as you sit on your couch doing work. The surprise quickly passes as you realize with delight that someone has texted you. In a flash, your phone is out and your fingers are furiously typing a response to your friend.

Phone technology has come a long way in the last decade and text messaging has been one of those breakthroughs.

According to pewresearch.org 88 percent of teen cell phone users are text-messagers, which is way up from 51 percent in 2006. The texting frenzy has also seemed to move into classrooms at school. According to www.eschoolnews.com, a new study by textPlus found that 43 percent of teens ages 13-17 say they text in class. For teachers, the texting during class has become a distraction.

“It’s something that I don’t want to have happen in class, but as a teacher, trying to teach and watch over 30 students in the classroom, I know it’s hard to stop students from doing it,” social studies teacher Charles Koch said. “My biggest issue is that it really is a distraction from what the students should be focusing on during instruction time.”

Social networking is one other thing that most teens are doing. The once popular Myspace, the now popular Facebook and Twitter, and the emerging popularity of Tumblr have kids using these sites every waking moment.

“I get on the internet intending to do homework or something constructive, but without thinking I type Facebook into the search bar,” junior Shirali Shah said. “Going on Facebook is one of my favorite things to do because I get to talk to friends and just see what everyone is up to.”
Although social networking sites provide amusement for students, they may distract students from their school work.

“I think that properly utilized, technology can be a great resource for teaching, for learning and for facilitating education in all subject areas,” English teacher Barbara Clougherty said. “However, when we as teachers require kids to be getting on the computer every day for their homework, I believe that it’s too big of a distraction for them to be clicking over to Facebook, texting their friends or IMing.”

Being on social networking sites may fill up a student’s day with needless online interaction. According to www.calumet.purdue.edu, students who attended Carbondale Community High School in Carbondale, spent an average of 89.4 minutes online per day. The amount of time that students are online per day is rising.

“I think that more and more people are using sites like Facebook because their friends are using them,” Shah said.

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