I see your point and I agree somewhat but I don’t think the blame is fully on humans and I’ll explain. Most of us grew up without the plethora of technology that we have today and therefore we can make a choice not to get plugged in to this ‘crazy’ world of hi-tech but people born into this new system almost have no hope (i use the word hope lightly) since that’s all they know. I don’t think they are to blame for having short attention spans etc.

In the same vein with what Krystalyn said above, It is more important to know what to do with information that to have the information itself. Anyone can google anything but most students don’t know how to go about verifying the accuracy of this information. It could also be due to an attitude of believing everything on the internet.

Betsy, this is a follow up video to the one I mentioned above:

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/6p6df7/the-colbert-report-the-word—wikilobbying

Great post! I totally agree with you that "multi-tasking is bad for high quality cognitive work and heavy multi-taskers are not good at choosing a task to concentrate on". I do not know whether one day we can have the technology in class like: the instructor can decide the internet access for certain website. Therefore, even though student bring their electronic device to class, they are still only allow to certain academic website close related with the class. Besides, teachers may guide their students how to take notes instead of watching their students copy their slides in class.

In response to your last meaningful wisdom “everything in moderation”, I cannot agree with your mom more! In Eastern culture, it is all about balance and moderation. It is definitely impossible to chuck technology out of the window. But we can use it comparative advantage and combine it with human advantage. Like the chess example. Man and machine won’t be good alone, but the combination of these two makes a different. So in this sense, this moderation is, in fact, a win-win situation.
BTW, a lot of us are really impressed by the number of tabs you have in your browser!

A really great post. Thanks for sharing！
Yanliang

Fabulous post! I share much of the same sentiments. With wifi easily accessible on any campus or public/private establishment and cell phones, computers, digital hand-held devices, iPads, iPods, digital notebooks, and etc. at our finger tips it has become second nature to consistently check social media sites, emails, text messages, course management systems, and etc. in which I find myself immersed in much of the day and find it difficult to unplug at times. I find technology so ingrained in me and the things I interact with that you become more automated, because it’s so easily accessible. I don’t think its technology that impedes or intrudes on daily lives or learning, but perhaps more or less the end-user and the contexts its being used. For example, you’ll have a face-to-face conversation with someone and they might find it difficult to converse without being distracted by an electronic device or social media. So, I concur, its wishful unplugging, but in this day and age, its slightly unrealistic. Great post & thank you for sharing!

I like each of your three thought threads equally, but I’ll only comment on the third. James touched on some of this in his post where he talks about helping student consume information responsibly. This is definitely going to be key going forward. Teaching students how to weed through the bias opinions posted as fact on countless blogs and article comment sections. They’re so easy to believe when it’s what you want to hear, and so frustrating when you know it’s wrong.

I agree with you opinion that whether use electronic device in class should depend on whether it can benefit student’s learning. In addition, it also depends on what kind of classes. If the class is about basic principle/knowledge, students may be encouraged to use their computer after class so they can more focus on the class. If they have want to refer to other knowledge/subject or have an extension based on the class, they can search those information after they well understand the class. But if the class is a discussion-based class, students may learn better if they can search the information they need in time by electronic device. Overall, it will be beneficial if instructors provide a guide for student before the class.

Very true Bernardo. Your comment reminded me of when my mom told me of an uncle that went to study medicine in Spain when she was little and everyone in the family waited for his letters anxiously. Thankfully we have now Skype and other sources that allow us to communicate and see each other live.

The second part of the comment, I concur with you, we have to foster that curiosity in students that they have to critically analyze the information they receive, to challenge it, and find several sources that corroborate or negate it.

Thanks for the comment!

Thanks for the comment Katie! That advice from the old woman, like you said, is harsh but very true. I had never seen it that way, I believe the counter point is if you still can make it in time to see the family member for the last time and you weren’t available. That doesn’t help much now a days that family is scattered around the nation or internationally.
The comment of not having to respond instantaneously to emails is very true; we need to change that mentality that everything has to be in that exact moment, almost everything can wait.