EDITORIAL – Misplacing blame on technology

Kids these days are rude – at least that’s what some of our professors think. They’re not… Kids these days are rude – at least that’s what some of our professors think. They’re not happy about all the gadgets and technology we’re bringing into the classroom, especially when they have reason to think that it’s distracting us from their lessons, according to an Associated Press article. While some of us really are taking notes on our laptops, others spend class clicking through Facebook, playing games and compulsively checking e-mail.

And it’s not just laptops. Students type out text messages on their cell phones and send e-mails on Blackberries rather than taking notes. People also play games on their PSPs and use their iPods throughout class. Some of these people make us wonder why they even came to class at all.

It’s unfair for instructors to write off every student who brings technology into the classroom. The argument is this: If we functioned without technology in the classroom before, why do we need it now? And the answer, according to some, is that we’re a rude generation lacking social skills.

Actually, the conflict lies in the generation gap. We as students have shown that we can cut it when it comes to multitasking. For us, it’s a way of life. We’ve grown up with an increasing amount of stimuli and constantly developing technology. It’s only natural that it’s highly integrated into our lives. Are we capable of checking our e-mail and being attentive in class? Yes.

However, there is a line when it comes to technology in the classroom. Should people have PSPs, iPods and cell phones out during class? No. Silence them and put them away. If you can’t sit through class without these distractions, then you probably shouldn’t even go in the first place. Laptops are useful for taking notes, but they also offer easily accessible distractions. If you can’t peel yourself away from your gadgets long enough to sit through class and you insist on showing up, go ahead and play games on your iPod – just keep it to yourself and don’t distract the professor or other students.

The article blames a sense of accessibility for our constant desire to be plugged in, and it also notes that large lecture halls harbor more offenders. It’s easier to get lost in the crowd and become disengaged from the lecturer when you’re a faceless number in a sea of people. Perhaps small classes are the key to keeping some students’ attention. But then there’s the accessibility issue. Are we as a generation “too connected,” and is all this technology encouraging detachment from life and dependence on machines? The answer for most of us is no.

Still, we maintain that the motivation behind the influx of technology is nothing new. Teachers don’t know if we’re taking notes or checking e-mail in the same way that they couldn’t tell if we were writing down notes or making a shopping list for the liquor store in our college-rule notebooks. And what about the people who spend class working on the beloved crossword puzzles and Sudokus from The Pitt News?

So while some people would like to blame technology for hollowing out students as they look for some deep psychological reasons to explain gadgets showing up in the classroom, we’re content to blame it on the attention problems students have been battling for decades. Things haven’t changed so much – we’re just showing up with cooler toys.