Is banning the answer?

I am a huge fan of Clay Shirky’s work — and of the man himself (when I wanted a public reference for my site I asked him before anyone else). In Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away he talks about the distraction factor of technology and how it has become too much for his students and their ability to learn in class.

In all my presentations on mobile learning to teachers and principals, the most common question is always: how do you control student use of mobiles, since they are always chatting and checking this and that online? Like Shirky, they too are competing for their student’s attention. And often they lose.

Nothing that we know about multitasking, and how bad it is for concentration, is surprising. I know that during meetings in which I‘m checking emails I am experiencing half (at best) to no (at worst) engagement with what is being discussed. I literally miss much of what is happening. I am listening and looking, but I do not hear, I do not see. So, too, it must be with students.

There is undoubtedly a time to switch off and listen, or put lids down as Shirky calls it. But how often, and when? On devices, he finally switched from ‘allowed unless by request’ to ‘banned unless required’. Banning is a strong word. Drugs are banned, guns are banned. And now laptops, tablets and mobile phones? As someone who actively promotes the enormous potential of mobile learning, and truly believes in the power of connectedness – inspired largely by Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody – the idea of blanket forcing students to unplug and disconnect is a tough one to swallow.

As Shirky says, he is an unlikely candidate for internet censor. I trust that his rationale for asking his students to put their laptops away undoubtedly comes from a well-considered place – as explained in the article. But there are still too many nagging questions and considerations for me. A few of these are below – shared in the hope that the conversation will keep going. I feel that banning is too blunt an instrument, is there not another, less dramatic way?

Approximately for how long are students typically required to go online in a lecture? I just want to get a sense of what we’re talking about here – very occasionally, 10% of the time, half the time? In South Africa, as in other developing countries, many students cannot afford their own PCs and only have access to such a device in the school lab or university library. Some students only get online for an hour a week because one lab of 40 PCs serves 1,000 students. I’ve always rallied against this and, like most other people, advocated for much higher levels of access, including within each and every classroom. Governments are increasingly bringing laptops and tablets into classes en masse, with us egging them on. But should we stop? Has this all been a terrible mistake? Should we now talk them out of it?

What about the message that so many of us have been putting out, that being connected to information and peer networks is good for education? That technology in the classroom is part of the 21st century education? That being able to, in real time, enrich/question the teacher/lecturer message is beneficial? What caveat should we now add to the message – that everything we said still holds, but that simply listening and engaging without distractions is so much better, and that is best achieved by putting the devices away? In short, are we saying that being connected and having access to the internet is good for learning, but just not really in class?

The distraction examples cited in the article are only from social media and messaging apps. Is the issue really that social media/messaging should be removed from class?

If laptops, tablets and phones are mostly off, do the student’s in Shirky’s class all take paper notes? I’m curious.

As we all try to find a solution to this challenge, not just Shirky, can we not do a bit of experimentation? Apparently screens generate distraction in a manner akin to second-hand smoke. If a student near you checks her Facebook page you can’t help but look. So, perhaps he could create two zones in the lecture hall: one where laptops are allowed to be open and students can do what they want (a designated smoking area), and another where laptops are allowed but only for “good” use (looking up additional references, taking notes, double checking Prof Shirky, etc.)? Of course in the second zone some students would opt not to have laptops at all. All in that zone, laptops users or not, would be guaranteed no social media distractions. In the class of the movies, good students sit in the front, loafers at the back. With the zoned areas, students could self-select where they want to be.

Technologically-based distraction is not going to go away. Surely we need to teach students to learn the art of switching off, not by forcing them to, but by helping them to decide for themselves? (Even with laptops, tablets and phones off, I can guarantee that students in Prof Shirky’s class are still texting and tweeting under the table.) This is like teaching responsible internet use instead of the original dos-and-don’ts of acceptable us? People need to learn to switch off at the appropriate time. I only check Twitter every few days now, it became too distracting before. I have learned to switch off social media when I need to write an article, or email when I need to prepare a presentation, even if just for an hour. It’s damn difficult, but it’s the only way I can focus. Banning in class is too unsubtle a way to teach this.