Can Doing Homework While Distracted By Technology Affect Test Scores
In another study of 8-18 year old students done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly one third of the students surveyed confessed that when they were doing homework, they were also watching TV, texting, or listening to music. Victoria Rideout, the lead author of the study, warns parents about the dangers of media multitasking. This concern is distinct from worrying about how much kids are online or how much kids are media multitasking overall. Its multitasking while learning that has the biggest potential downside,she says.
If a student is focused when doing their homework, they actually retain more of the information when it comes time to take a test on the same subject matter. It’s like studying for the test little by little and absorbing the information in small chunks. The strategy of chunking bits of information has been shown to be the most effective way to learn larger amounts of information and is a useful test prep strategy. If a student does her homework while multitasking, that will result in less information being retained and therefore more time will be required for test preparation in order to achieve the same result. Compounding matters, if homework is done while multitasking in an introductory class, it will be more difficult to build on that shaky foundation of knowledge in the more advanced class the next semester.
Rules That Build Life Skills
Your teenager will soon go to college, which means they have to live all by himself, do things on their own, and find ways to solve problems. You cannot handhold your kids all their lives. What you can do is prepare them for life. These are a few house rules for teenagers that can help them develop skills they need to survive in the real world.
Six: Model This Behavior
You cant expect your children to be all for this new lifestyle routine if they see their parents constantly on their phones or devices.
Unplug as a family. Show your children that there is life past the screen. Use this as an opportunity to engage in more activities together and strengthen relationships.
Learn about common sense media rules here.
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Tweens Spend Less Time Outside Than Prisoners
Thats less than one hour a day. These shocking stats were from a survey of 2,000 parents of 5 to 12-year-olds. The survey part of Percils Dirt is Good campaign revealed the following:
- Kids spend twice as long playing on screens as they do playing outside.
- 3-in-4 kids spend less than 60 minutes playing outside each day.
- 1-in-5 kids dont play outside at all on a typical day.
- 3-in-4 parents said their kids often refuse to play games without some form of technology.
- 2-in-3 parents say their kids spend less time outside than they did as children.
These results were mirrored in a separate survey of 2,000 parents by the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Tesco which found 77% of kids dont get enough physical activity. And a recent survey by the National Trust found, on average, kids played outside for just over four hours a week compared to 8.2 hours for the adults surveyed.
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, defines the phenomenon as nature deficit disorder. Experts agree that unstructured play and physical activity are key to a happy, healthy childhood. But todays kids are spending less time outdoors due to a combination of parental fear, lack of access to green space, mountains of homework, and rising screen time.
What Does Research Show About Studying While Distracted By Technology
In a study conducted by Dr. Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University – Dominguez Hills, students were observed studying for a 15 minute period where they were told to “study something important. He found was that students generally started to lose focus after about three minutes. On average “students only spent about 65 percent of the observation period actually studying.” Thats not exactly what you might consider quality studying time.
Dr. Rosen did another study where he surveyed high school students and asked them how often they switch from studying to doing something related to technology such as checking email, Facebook, texting or watching TV. Across all grade levels, 80% of students reported that they switch between studying and technology somewhat often to very often. Rosen calls this Continuous Partial Attention, meaning that most of the time, students are not focused on studying but rather are moving their attention back and forth between studying and various forms of technology. As you might expect, students who were the most distracted generally had the most windows open on their computers. Students who were less distracted had higher GPAs than students who switched back and forth fairly often and those who regularly check Facebook or text messages. Students who had strategies for studying also had higher GPAs according to Rosens findings.
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Helpmy Child Is Addicted To Electronics
Dear Crucial Skills,
My fourteen-year-old son seems to be addicted to electronics. If we let him, he will spend ten hours a day on his tablet, computer, or XBOX. I want him to choose to do other things, and to do something worthwhile over the summer. Is there a better approach than cold turkey?
Signed,Parent of an e-addict
Dear Parent,
I like the way you framed your objective: I want him to choose to do other things. Thats a completely different influence problem from I want him to stop. As a father of six children, I have often been tempted to go for the quick fix of the latter rather than the steady influence of the former.The latter could be accomplished by simply spilling iced tea on the problematic devices, then feigning remorse as they short out in a puff of smoke. The former will require not only more thought, but more patience and character on your part.
1. Is the problem the problem? Before you decide that electronic games are the problem, do your best to determine whether games are a way of medicating against or isolating from some other problemlike bullying, depression, anxiety, loneliness, or other social or emotional problems.
Abstinence Test. Share the definition of addiction. Invite him to experiment in discovering his own way to discern healthy gaming and unhealthy gaming by attempting a brief abstention experiment and recording his feelings during it. Discuss openly how it felt and what that means to him.
Warmly,
About Carole Banks Lcsw
Carole Banks, LCSW holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of New England. Carole has worked as a family and individual therapist for over 16 years, and is a former online parent coach for Empowering Parents. She is also the mother of three grown children and grandmother of six.
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When Your Child Uses Your Credit Card
Ive talked with many parents whose kids have used their credit card to buy something online. Often, theyve used it for gaming. Even if the money is gone and cannot be retrieved, dont let your child off the hook. They can make amends by doing something extra around the house to work it off. For example, they can clean out the basement, the garage, or do yard work.
The bottom line is that you want to try to teach your child to make amends to the person theyve wronged. In this case, that person is you. I also recommend that you log on to your credit card account frequentlydaily if necessaryto monitor your cards activity.
Why Parents Fear Technology Is Making Kids Fat Dumb And Mean
The truth about technology is a lot more complicated — and less scary
We break down the scariest rumors and offer simple, no-stress advice
Parents have a lot of responsibility. Mainly, keep the kid alive. Next, try to raise a decent human being.
And the messages about media and tech start almost from the moment theyre born: TV will rot your kids brain! Video games are evil! Kids dont know how to have conversations anymore!
It all boils down to the idea that too much media and tech will ruin your kid or make them fat, dumb, and mean.
But obviously thats an oversimplification. The truth is more complicated and a lot less scary.
Here we break down the scariest media and tech rumors and give you some solid research and simple, no-stress advice.
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Is There An App For That
With nearly everyone over the age of 10 having a cell phone and access to the internet these days, it’s quite common to find students dividing their attention between texting, checking social media websites and surfing the internet while doing homework and studying for exams. Given that text messaging is the way many students communicate with each other, it’s not easy for parents to explain to them that when it’s time to do homework or study for an exam it’s necessary to turn their phone off.
In all likelihood, they will argue about this as students of all ages seem to have a misconception that they can pay attention to more than one thing at a time and that multitasking is an effective way to do homework or study for a test. How are you, their parent, going to respond? With research. In this blog post, we reviewed the most up to date research that we could find on the subject of multitasking to give parents a better understanding of what it takes to be a successful student.
Why You’re Not Succeeding In Helping Your Children With Their Phone Addiction
How many times have you wondered why a child isnt hearing what youre saying? Theres an answer, and here it is: Because when youre irritated, your child hears only I dont love you, and that is so devastating, that he or she hears none of the rest of the content of what you say.
So THAT is what I’ll be teaching you:
How to LOVE your children unconditionally,
which then gives them a REASON to LISTEN to you.
If you love them unconditionally, they can HEAR you what youre really sayingbecause theyre not distracted by their fear, not blinded and deafened by the I dont love you message. Then it becomes possible for you to teach them anythinglike how to be loving and responsible themselves.
And if they have that powerful trifectathey feel loved, and they are loving and responsiblethey are guaranteed to be happy, which is the ultimate goal for any parent, or, frankly, any person.
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Three: Make A List Of Things To Do Instead
To make the transition easier, create a list of alternative activities.
When we reduced screen time in our home, my children were a little lost. They would ask my husband and I, So what do we do now? By preparing a list of ideas, your child can have easy go-to options to replace the void.
I purchased the following simple items and put them in a bin for my children to encourage play and face-to-face interactions. I told them to check the bin when they were looking for something to do:
- Indoor activities: Legos, Play-Doh , coloring books
Give Your Child More Freedom
The summer months are ideal for getting outside more and sitting in front of a screen less. This is the best tip for an older child who cant get enough video games. Give them the freedom to free-range with a friend, visit a local park, or just to explore!
Related: 50+ Scree-Free Activities for Kids
Start with smaller time intervals and let them enjoy exploring the neighborhood on their own. As a mom learning to encourage free-range play, its difficult to not feel panic at first. I stay positive by thinking of free-range play as a gift I can give my children to help them grow and discover the beauty of play and nature through their own eyes and experiences.
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Rumor: Tv Rots Kids Brains
Research says: No credible research exists that says screens cause any sort of damage to the brain. Its pretty clear, though, that having a TV on in the background isnt good for little kids. Its been shown to reduce the amount of time kids play and the quality of that play. It also seems to be related to less parent-child talk and interaction, which can have a negative impact on kids language development. Television in the bedroom is also a no-no research shows it affects the quality and amount of sleep kids get, which can affect learning, among other things.
Advice: Turn off the TV unless youre actively watching it. And keep it out of sleeping areas. Play music perhaps wordless if you want some background noise. And set aside time each day, if possible, to actively play with little kids.
Advice: Avoid commercials by using a DVR or choosing videos without ads. Also, teach kids to recognize advertisers tricks and marketing techniques, so when they see ads, they can evaluate them critically. Make sure kids get exercise every day, either at school or home. If kids cant spend time outdoors, find ways to be physically active indoors and choose active video games or find fun exercise apps or TV shows to enjoy together or for kids to enjoy on their own.
A Tip To Control What Our Kids Are Doing On Their Screens:
I do several things to filter and monitor what the kids are doing on their devices, but here are my favorite and most important keys to keeping them safe and monitored. 1 I use Bark on every single device that they have. They know that I use it its not a secret. Its easy to set up, easy to use, and it lets me monitor what they are doing. It blocks inappropriate things and it sends an alert to my phone if something suspicious is happening on their device, via a website, text, photo, social media, or app. Its inexpensive and the best parental control app for iPhone, iPod, iPad, or tablet that Ive found. 2 I have all of our phones set up to require a password before adding any new games or apps. I set up that password, and they do not know it. I never give our kids the password for anything. If they want an app to play a new game, they need to ask me & I will type in the password. Everything goes through the parents.
3 I set up the Screen Time option on their device. This allows me to have an extra layer of protection. I quickly set time-limits, communication limits, website restrictions, etc. This is also where I set up the rule that each app requires the password before it can be added. . Set up a Screen Time code that you keep to yourself. Youll enter that pin code anytime that you need to make changes.
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Antisocialand In The Basement
Weve already talked a lot about setting up some clear structure for your kidslimiting their time on games or having a clear off-time, with some logical consequences or rewards. Some parents also find it helpful to establish regular family time during which you do something as a family and there are short-term consequences for not participating. You could also require your child to participate in some sort of group activity once per week, such as a sport, club, or youth group.
The key here is to let your child choose the activity. Until they choose an activity, you might restrict their game use on the weekends to encourage time with friends. Once they choose and begin an activity, let them know they dont get any access to video games at all that day if they dont attend a scheduled practice or meeting.
Perhaps the trickiest thing of all is that there is no cookie-cutter formula to determine how much video game time is too much, or what limits and consequences are appropriate for your child. Every child is different. Some children are able to shift into a different activity more easily, while others are more vulnerable targets for the highly rewarding design of the games. In the end you just have to trust your gut and go with what feels right for your family.
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Is Technology Addiction Real Or One Of These Fads To Scare Us
Remember, back in the day, when our parents told us sitting too close to the TV would give us square eyes? Well, we know thats not true but experts say there are real dangers to exposing our kids to technology too early.
is the very thing impeding the development of the abilities that parents are so eager to foster through the tablets. The ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other peoples attitudes and communicate with them, to build a large vocabularyall those abilities are harmed. Dr Aric Sigman, a Fellow of Britains Royal Society of Medicine
Why is this the case?
Well, most of the issues lie with the number of stimuli our devices offer us. Because our devices give us the ability to process multiple actions at once, we are taking away the need for younger minds to process the information themselves.
Psychology Today summarises it nicely:
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