“Screenagers”
A few years ago at EARCOS, I heard Ian Jukes’ Keynote speech. I found him to be quite entertaining and fairly knowledgeable. He made many insightful points, but one of the most memorable comments was about teenagers when he said they really need to be called “screenagers”. It hit me like a brick! Well, about two years have passed, but this morning – the term surfaced again. However, this time is wasn’t a teen that made me think of it. It was me – the middle school teacher on a Sunday morning… watching screens!
Where do I start? I know, the BREAKING NEWS on CNN about the Coalition attacks on Libya.
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And in between, the review of the various home footage shot by random civilians in
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Japan capturing the tsunami that is the most horrible catastrophe in history on smartphones and personal video cameras. On the lap, my Lenovo. I sift through and delete old Yahoo and Outlook emails. Also checking Facebook, Twitter, checking bank balances and double checking Spring break plans. All of this from the comfort of my couch with a “wireless” connection. Now, glancing left, the third screen. With the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, also known as “March Madness”, in full swing, I was able to watch a few games using 3G thanks to CBS Sportsline streaming the games.
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So, like most teachers, I think about my students and education - quite often. And when I call my 8th graders screenagers – they get it now. But, I guess I can throw myself into the category now also. It truly makes me smile at how far we’ve come since I actually was a teenager. It’s amazing how SCREENS have truly changed our lives – both young and old.
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4 Responses to ““Screenagers””
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Yep, screenagers to screenolders. I remember this morning as well and I couldn’t look at enough different screens, tv, i-phone, laptop, and then how many different applications did I have open: flipping from CNN to local news (tv), NCAA March Madness on Demand, ESPN Streak, messages (i-phone), to the laptop’s normal youtube, cnn, netvibes, etc. It was a lot, but all the information was important and manageable. Am I multi-tasking? Heck yeah!
But the key to all the different sources and screens is also my interest, everything was of importance. Is this the same for our students when they say they can multi-task? Hmmmm? Interest level has to play a role.
Couldn’t agree more. I spent last weekend on Green Island…remote, beautiful, salt water hot springs, fantastic snorkeling… and constant 3G access to my emails and news. Crazy. And my son was writing me texts on his iPod Touch via the application Textie.
Agree…it’s not really multi-tasking as much as it is quickly changing your focus. Now…I think you’re both on to something here….Chris talks about all the screens and Erik talks about them all be important to him.
So we passion that drives us to want to know the information and because it’s our passion it’s OK…or so we tell ourselves.
So in schools how do we tap into student passion and then allow them to use what ever they want, including screens of all sizes to access the information they want when they want/need it.
It’s funny how we see this as just the way it is…because it’s our passion then we turn around and shake our heads when kids can’t get their heads out of their cell phones.
I completely agree with all of you. Look how far we’ve come. I’m here at the IASAS track tournament in Bangkok and am able to keep tabs and stay connected to one of my athletes that had to arrive late due to visa issues; all from the track, on my iPhone, as I coach my other runners and watch them medal in their events. Absolutely INSANE! I think back to when I was in high school, traveling across the STATE (not country to country) and I was disconnected from my family 4 hours away. NOW, I can be IN a different COUNTRY and instantaneously contact my athlete whose a 4 hour PLANE ride away! I can’t believe how far we’ve come.
I do agree with Erik and Jeff though, that there has to be a passion. But I think that with all of the new availability to things instantaneously, it can help bring NEW passions/interests, that maybe we didn’t have time for before (or an interest in). For example, prior to my iPhone (okay all of my life), I RARELY watched the news and was horrible about keeping up with current events! (Yes, I hate to admit it). BUT, now that I have my iPhone, I’ve downloaded a few News Apps that send me Breaking News messages, and now I’m “getting educated”. My father is SOOO proud. Something that I wanted to make a regular part of my life before, but didn’t take the time, has now become a new interest of mine because I do it while I’m multi-tasking with other things, from where ever I am, from a little screen.