EdTech and School Culture Revisited
This week, and many weeks before this week I have been reflecting a lot on the tools we provide students and teachers in the classroom. But, not just simply the tool, but how the tool impacts students in a variety of ways. With the rise of stress and anxiety amongst students nationally, I felt the need to stop and reflect on how digital tools and websites affect our students. And, while this is a topic that always resides at the forefront of my mind, it wasn’t until last Sunday when an article in the New York Times caught my attention.
“We hear a lot these days that modern digital technology is rewiring the brains of our teenagers, making them anxious, worried and unable to focus.
Don’t panic; things are really not this dire.”
This is how Dr. Richard A. Friedman starts off his article titled, “The Big Myth About Teenage Anxiety.” Followed by the subtitle, “Relax: The digital age is not wrecking your kid’s brain.”
Over the past few years, I have heard so much to the contrary of this statement. That digital tools and screen time are destroying the minds and affecting our kids’ brains adversely. And, as the Cheif Information Officer of a school that places one of these devices in the hands of every student, I felt the need to read on, and really understand the relationship between digital tools and stress and anxiety.
What I discovered as I read on is there is still a lot of research to be done in this area. And, at the moment, there is not a direct node of linking technology use and the stress and anxiety our students face. It may play a supporting role, but it is not the ultimate conclusion. What’s more is that the last comprehensive survey of psychiatric disorders amongst American youth was conducted over ten years ago. Which begs the favor of not rushing to judgment on how technology is affecting American children.
With anything new and emerging, we must look at the research and not jump to diagnose when the research and studies have yet to catch up. Additionally, we must look at history to help prepare and inform where we are going. My generation and the generation before me was warned of “brain rot” and how too much TV would ultimately lead to a generation of cognitive dopes. I think we turned out OK. However, now we all just “binge watch” Netflix programming.
But, as I have always said in my work, we must pace the implementation of technology effectively and strike a healthy balance with screen time and time away from the screen. I have witnessed many schools rushing towards grand technology implementations without once discussing how it would impact and affect school culture. Side note and plug, I spoke a lot about this in my 2014 book, The 1:1 Roadmap: Setting the course for innovation in education. Long, dated title with one 5 star Amazon review, but the focus throughout the book is not on the iPad, but on the human element and how this transformative device will affect school culture. And, not just the internal school culture, but how do these devices impact the greater community and the homes where these devices travel to daily.
I think this article by Dr. Friedman is a good conversation starter with parents. By no means is this proving anyone wrong on how technology affects teenagers, but rather, how can we further educate the entire school community on the impact of technology on the brain. Start with consistent parent programming where IT professionals are not only educating students and faculty on maintaining a healthy balance of screen time but sharing that same message with parents and guardians.
Our goal, as education professionals, should not just be to provide the best resources for our school community, but the most inclusive educational programming.
