{"id":281,"date":"2015-11-23T12:21:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T17:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.wpengine.com\/?p=281"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:45:00","slug":"the-tipping-point-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=281","title":{"rendered":"The Tipping Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Narmeen Rehman<\/strong>
\nBloomfield Hawkeye
\nBloomfield Hills HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 2, News Writing
\nEnvironmental, Health or Science<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

She looked around the room and all\u00a0she saw was glowing faces looking down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I don\u2019t like to admit it, I\u2019m addicted. It seems\u00a0like we all are,\u201d said BHHS senior Alesha Kotian. \u201cNowadays,\u00a0the media is everywhere and the amount of \u2018screen time\u2019 or\u00a0time [teenagers] spend staring at their phones or computer\u00a0screens is alarming. It\u2019s pathetic. It truly saddens me that\u00a0our personal connections are now being limited to a screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between everything from television to Twitter, the American\u00a0Academy of Pediatrics agrees with Kotian finding that the\u00a0average teenager spends over eleven hours in front of a screen\u00a0consuming various forms of media as opposed to the recommended\u00a0two hours a day. With teenagers spending more time\u00a0in front of the screen, the question of social implications arises.\u00a0Arlene Pellicane, author of Growing Up Social, believes\u00a0that this increase in media exposure is building a social disconnect.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur homes are experiencing a subtle shift. Parents\u00a0and children alike are growing more comfortable with\u00a0spending increasing amounts of time with devices. Unknowingly,\u00a0we\u2019ve accepted a trade-off. We might be sharing the\u00a0same space as our family members, but we are not emotionally\u00a0connecting with each other as we are looking at screens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pellicane believes that this emotional wall is not only building\u00a0in the home, but in all of our relationships too. \u201cNavigating\u00a0relationships on a screen can seem more transactional\u00a0than with humans. You can delete friends who bother you and\u00a0just get new ones. People can be treating you like a commodity;\u00a0they are there for your convenience to meet your needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students growing up in the digital age, researchers at\u00a0UCLA found that this attitude towards relationships following\u00a0prolonged exposure to screens could be a red flag.\u00a0The study sent one group of sixth graders to the Pali Institute,\u00a0an educational camp just outside of Los Angeles, where electronic\u00a0devices were prohibited. While one group was device-free,\u00a0the other group of sixth graders followed their daily routine\u00a0with regular media consumption. Five days later, each student\u00a0was tested and the results showed that the group of students\u00a0who did not have any access to such devices was significantly\u00a0better at reading human emotions, as opposed to the group\u00a0who had regular access to telephones, tablets, and television.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, we were pretty surprised that just five days would have\u00a0that effect. In such a short time, the kids got better at recognizing\u00a0emotion,\u201d said Yalda T. Uhls, senior researcher at the UCLA Children\u2019s\u00a0Digital Media Center. \u201cBut we think this is good news because\u00a0if indeed lack of face-to-face time is changing people\u2019s ability\u00a0to understand emotion, our results suggest you can disconnect\u00a0for five days and get better – it takes so little time to reconnect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, it\u2019s time for a change. If five days of being away from\u00a0technology makes us better, imagine the 365 days that we spend\u00a0in front of these devices,\u201d said Kotian. \u201cWe need technology, but\u00a0more than that we need to look at the consequences and find better\u00a0ways of incorporating it into our lives. Like all things in life,\u00a0we need to find a healthy balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue really is not that staring\u00a0at screens is going to make\u00a0you bad at recognizing emotions.\u00a0It\u2019s more that if you\u2019re looking\u00a0at screens, you\u2019re not looking at\u00a0the world,\u201d Uhls said. \u201cNeuroscience\u00a0has found that the brain\u00a0changes throughout the life span,\u00a0so the fact is that we are learning\u00a0from our environment all\u00a0the time. And if we\u2019re not looking\u00a0at the environment around\u00a0us, the world around us, chances\u00a0are we\u2019re not learning from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While prolonged screen time\u00a0may have adverse effects on learning\u00a0in some parts of the brain Pellicane believes there are some\u00a0perks that cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to excess screen time,\u00a0parts of our brain that are in\u00a0charge of one-on-one people\u00a0skills, empathy, and sustained\u00a0concentration are weakening.\u00a0However, at the same time,\u00a0screen time is strengthening other parts. For example,\u00a0quick decision making, visual acuity, and multitasking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping in mind the potential positive effects of\u00a0screen time as well as the implications to relationships,\u00a0districts like Bloomfield Hills are debating whether\u00a0or not to integrate technology into the classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur district had been looking at the possibility of going\u00a0one-to-one for several years. Seeing the potential of the type of\u00a0works student had to do and the ability to move towards paperless\u00a0was exciting. Additionally, giving all the students the\u00a0same access to technology was considered,\u201d said Andy Gignac,\u00a0vice-principal of West Hills Middle School (WHMS).\u00a0However, Uhls believes that all sides should be considered before introducing technology into the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t learn non-verbal emotional cues from a screen\u00a0in the way you can learn it from face-to-face communication. \u00a0It\u2019s going to reduce children\u2019s face to face interactions with the\u00a0teacher and each other. Research indicates that there are important\u00a0social costs, and schools really need to think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past fall, WHMS officially decided to distribute iPads to the\u00a0middle schoolers. In October, fourth and fifth graders received one\u00a0iPad for every two students for the classroom. By Mid-November,\u00a0the iPads were checked out to 6th and 8th graders for the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was apprehensive about a few things. But, the potential\u00a0is endless. I will say that my initial reaction has been exceeded\u00a0as I have witnessed how the devices are transforming\u00a0learning at WHMS,\u201d said Gignac. \u201cStudents have access to\u00a0information at their fingertips all the time. I have heard feedback\u00a0from many teachers that the students have been very\u00a0connected to their learning and the devices have played a role\u00a0in that. The students really are united when someone runs\u00a0into a problem; they work together to figure out a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

With regards to how the tablets transform the way\u00a0students interactions with one another and the relationships\u00a0they are building, Gignac believes the students\u2019\u00a0socializing skills may have changed for the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been an interesting social interaction that I didn\u2019t\u00a0anticipate. I was surprised prior to rolling out the devices, I really\u00a0thought it would\u00a0completely interfere\u00a0with their social\u00a0skills,\u201d said Gignac.\u00a0\u201cNow, I believe that\u00a0their social skills are\u00a0evolving as they interact\u00a0around the\u00a0technology sometimes.\u00a0I think that\u00a0the pros outweigh\u00a0the cons. I think that\u00a0tablets, such as iPads,\u00a0take the traditional\u00a0classroom and open\u00a0up a door to a vast\u00a0oasis of information\u00a0and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould kids not\u00a0look at screens anymore?\u00a0Unless you\u00a0want to move to\u00a0Siberia – and I am\u00a0only saying that figuratively,\u00a0because\u00a0chances are even\u00a0Siberia has the Internet. I think that ship has sailed,\u201d said\u00a0Uhls. \u201cI love media, I\u2019m pro-media and content, my\u00a0kids are media- savvy, and I enjoy the best it offers, it\u2019s\u00a0just that it\u2019s very important to find a healthy balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, [students] social skills might be affected by screen time.\u00a0But, you can\u2019t blame students for the amount of time they\u2019re\u00a0in front of the screen. So, I think that it\u2019s unfair to say that\u00a0our generations social skills are getting worse. It\u2019s just that\u00a0the way we are socializing is different than any time before,\u201d\u00a0said BHHS senior Esther Yi. \u201cThe reality is that technology\u00a0is our future \u2013 there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s everywhere and why\u00a0schools are starting us with it from a younger age. As time\u00a0goes on, each generation will be exposed more and more to\u00a0technology. There might be costs, but we need to know the\u00a0effects of the appropriate amount of screen time and how to\u00a0use technology in order to be successful members of society.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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