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The Tech World Meets Education

Technology in this day and age affects all aspects of our lives, and recently, our educational system has been making the digital transition as well. This has its advantages, but its consequences could weigh out the conveniences.

People addicted to their phones|Photo Courtesy of Fast Company

In a survey conducted on teachers by Pew Internet Project, nearly 90 percent said that digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” Now, we may not be as bad as goldfish with a 9 second attention span but we definitely have some concentration problems. According to Medical Daily, “A weaker attention span could be a side effect of the brain having to adapt and change over time in the presence of technology.” Basically, the constant stimulation from our phones and computers has affected our attention span in a negative way by drastically shortening them. 

All this being said, the digitization of our educational system would do more harm than good for an addicted generation. Tangible textbooks are more interactive, and allow for the information to be more easily attained and remembered. 

Ebook|Photo courtesy of PCmag

According to TBS News, “Ebooks are designed for speed with skimming, scrolling, and linking. But physical books are designed for slow processing, with larger pages, no links, and concentrated singular lines of thought. The effect is slowness and patience instead of frenetic haste.” 

To make matters even worse, some students do not have access to computers, making it exceedingly difficult to stay in the loop. Having a personal computer is already an advantage over students who may not have any accessible technological resources. With digital education, not having internet or tech in general, is an immense and unfair  detriment. 

Technology is an amazing tool, but it’s not meant to be applied to all aspects of our lives. It’s an enabler. What we use it for is what matters 

Written by Roaa Alkhawaja

Co-Editor in Chief and Senior, Ro'aa Alkhawaja, loves herself a good week of reading, baking, tea-drinking, and eating more Nutella sandwiches than should be humanly possible.

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