Sparks Article
On average, teenagers use more than 6 types of social media outside of school. In my experience, some of this media may include texting, listening to music, and watching television while trying to do homework. Kids have a tendency to pay partial attention to multiple things at once, a.k.a. multitask, which is not necessarily a good thing; when only paying partial attention to something, it is less likely to achieve deep focus on one particular thing. The brain cannot be in two places at once, it can only switch attention from one thing to another. Therefore, it takes people longer to multitask than it does to complete tasks once at a time. For example, trying to make multiple decisions can cause a
bottleneck which can make it take longer for you to complete the tasks. Studies have been conducted to compare how multitaskers and non-multitaskers do on memory and attention tests. One study compared the scores of people who waited to text while learning and those who did not wait. The results showed that the people who waited to text had better scores than those who did not. An example of this is the marshmallow test, a test where preschoolers were given the choice to eat a marshmallow now or wait. They were left alone in a room for 15 minutes, and if they did not eat the marshmallow, then they were given a second one. The results showed that almost every child under the age of 4 ate the marshmallow right away and did not wait. Following these children up to adulthood, you can see that most of the kids who waited for the second marshmallow can exercise control better and have been more successful compared to the kids with no self-control. Obviously, you cannot just remove technology and distractions out of everyday life; the best thing to do would be to learn self-control and know when the best time is to clear your way of distractions.
Works Cited:
Sparks, Sarah. "Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control." Education Week. N.p., 15 May. 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2016. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/16/31multitasking_ep.h31.html?t kn=PTWFGpBwR5o7bKrnCvQZswL8Vr%2BlUoJB%2B62c&cmp=clp-edweek>