JohnJ_9_Q
Don't bore your listeners - is it really your fault?
I was talking to a professor of my the other day and we were talking about how she has noticed over the last decade the attention span of her students drop. She then stated how she can no longer show these documentaries about certain buildings because her students fall asleep. Ten years ago the videos she showed were cited in her end-of-year reviews as one of the best parts of her class.
I started telling her how I feel it’s the fast pasted movies and music videos, it's the 15 sec you tube clips and short flash clips, and it's the random song collection of IPODS that have trained today students to desire fast paced, high intensity snippets of information. She responded with a study she read which reported the average attention span for current students is about 7 mins before the topic needs to be changed.
Do you agree or disagree?
Labels: JJ
posted by Unknown @ 8:05 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The attention span shortage is symptomatic of the epidemic blight of pleasure seeking and self interest that has spawned in the last twenty years. Technology is not the flaw, it is our egocentricity. If the subject, teacher etc. is not benefitting "me" at the moment...I turn them off. We value our own momentary experience rather than opening ourselves to truth for truths sake or the path of learning. Thus, a Prof. said to me recently, "it's amazing how smart my students are. They seem to know more than me. They come in and tell me how it is and why I the Prof. with a book, 10 years with the Chicago Tribune...etc. don't know...._____(anything)." (slightly requoted)
We can't compete with HIGH Intensity visual stimuli like video and fast paced TV, nor should we...but we have to retrain students to not be so easily side tracked and to engage in deep contemplative thought. Let's help break this cycle.
I think that maturity comes when we can filter our media. We know when it's time to pay attention and when we can explore YouTube. We know that if we leave our cell at home life will go on. There was a time when people had patients and we need to strive for that. Just because we do have media at our disposal 24/7 we don't need to access it that often. And sometimes...just sometimes we're better for deciding to turn our pda off, not getting the phone in the middle of dinner, or perhaps talking with the person in the car with you. Be where you are.
Luke is right. "Be here now" is a good mantra. I could benefit from it, that's for sure.
It's never really technology's fault. It's a social problem and that stems from people. The whole violent video game debate is similarly misguided. As is the debate on the harmful effects of pornography on the viewer. These are just technologies and they are only reflecting greater social ills.
The problem with social ills is that they are really hard to define and root out. It's much easier to throw away your iPod.
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