3/29/16 Unit 2: Technology, Attention and its Affect on Society

Technology, Attention and its Affect on Society

            What is the average human attention span? Well in a short news story, broadcasted by WBRZ, it was stated that, “According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the average attention span has dropped from 12 to 8 seconds in the matter of just a few years.” In comparison, the news story also stated,  “The average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.” To most people this might come as a significant shock. How can an organism, which is significantly less developed and much less intelligent, have a longer attention span than humans? Well for that we can thank the influx of technology, growth of social media, and increasing number of handheld devices over the past 3-4 years. They are altering the social interactions between individuals as well as changing the focus of many peoples attention from the real world, to the universe that lives within the World Wide Web.

Technology has rapidly changed the society we live in today. It has made the seemingly impossible, possible and allowed unimaginable feats to be performed with the most precise accuracy and detail. Additionally, technology, especially smart phones and social media, has transformed the way people interact and connect. In an article posted by the Technology Review the author, Manuel Castells, states that “Globally, time spent on social networking sites surpassed time spent on e-mail in November 2007, and the number of social networking users surpassed the number of e-mail users in July 2009.” These applications like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are becoming increasingly more popular because of the way they are able to connect individuals. They are allowing people to stay up to date with one another’s lives even when they are miles apart. People are now capable of posting their entire lives online, keeping all their friends linked into their everyday activities. However useful, this new level of connection can be quite addicting. Castelles writes, “most Facebook users visit the site daily, and they connect on multiple dimensions, but only on the dimensions they choose. The virtual life is becoming more social than the physical life.”(Castelles).  This alteration in the social dynamic of society is what is driving the shortening of the average human attention span. Since the virtual world is becoming more social it is only human nature to fix more of ones attention onto it. However, this world is not physical, it does not exist in the dimensions of reality and is impacting individuals ability to focus on the here and now. As soon as someone puts down their phone or closes their laptop they are severing themselves from their virtual world. In this modern area there is an invisible battle between two worlds for attention and it seems like the physical one is loosing.

This technological transformation and its effects on human attention are quite evident on college campuses through out the U.S. Technologies such as smartphones and laptop computers have become essential for college students. They allow teachers to easily communicate classroom information with their students as well as allow students to stay up to date with the goings on at their university. However, these technologies may be more of a disadvantage than a advantage on college campuses.  In the WBRZ news program, which looked into the effects of smart phones on the Louisiana state University campus, Social Etiquette Expert Marthanne Calvi stated, “We have a generation that does not want to deal face-to-face with other people. They are simply more comfortable with that machine." These “machines” are distracting students because they allow individuals to be connected with one another without the physical interaction. This means that students attention is more focused on their technologies and the digital world, than what or whom is physical right in front of them.

Originally, smartphones as well as cell phones were used as tools that allowed for instant communication over long distances. However, nowadays they are being used in a significantly different way. Instead of using them for long distance messaging, phones have become the new way of communication across any distance. Individuals will call or text others who may be a few feet from them rather than just go over and talk to them. In a study done at Baylor University researcher Jim Roberts stated, “some people use a cellphone to dodge an awkward situation. They may pretend to take a call, send a text or check their phones,” Technology is having an affect on the social dynamic of humans. People’s interactions are becoming less and less physical as communication is now done electronically. There is a glaring problem with this because it’s hard to truly understand emotion over electronic communication. Most of an individual’s emotion is stated through their non-verbal communication, which is not present when reading an email or text message. This absence of non-verbal emotion leads many individuals to miss judge and miss interpret a situation. Technology is increasing the ability and frequency in which humans connect to one another; however, it is lowering human’s ability to make physical connections. It is changing people’s interactions as well as the social dynamic of this modern society. 

The smartphone, which is essentially a handheld mini computer, has become one of the most distracting technologies that are lowering the average attention span. This is evident within colleges as students are always attached to their phones, either texting, checking social media, or listen to music. If one was to look at a campuses quad on an average day they will most likely see students walking to class with their face glued to the screen of their phone. Similarly to texting and driving (however not on the same scale) walking while looking at ones phone is not particularly safe. One can only see a few paces ahead of themselves and run the risk of running into other students. In the Baylor study it was found that generally “Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and men college students spend nearly eight.” There are only 24 hours in a day and on average 8 of those are spent sleeping. That means that 50% for men, and 62.5% for women of the remaining 16 hours are spent using a smart phone. This is absurd. College student’s attention is being devoted more and more towards the screen in the palm of their hand than anything else within their day.

This increased smartphones use has spurred a social change within today’s young adults. It is a change that has occurred quite recently and is directly linked to the drop in human attention span. The language of the virtual world is short, conscience, and to the point. Everything is organized and structured in a way to be read or understood as quickly as possible. For example, acronyms such as LOL and OMG are used to quickly communicate ones feelings or emotions. Additionally, on the social media site Twitter there is a maximum number of 140 charters that one can type into a tweet.   This shortening of information is having an affect on the younger generations as well as college students. This is because individuals are now so accustom to everything being packaged into small segments they are becoming unable to spend long periods of time looking at information. When was the last time you saw a college student casually reading a newspaper? Modern media has become something that can be understood within a matter of minutes. Nowadays people don’t have the time to spend more than 5 minutes reading an article. So after a while they have become unable to put their attention on something for longer than a short moment. To counter this lack of attention, the media has condensed everything so that now there is no need to be able to focus on things for extended periods. Everything is quick and to the point. No eloquence or fluff, just cold hard facts.

The switch from paper and pen to computer is one that has only recently swept across the nations collegiate society. If one was to go into a large lecture only ten years prior to this day they would see students either asleep or taking notes on a note pad.  Nowadays, most students prefer to take their lecture notes on their laptops, however, many of them end up surfing the web or watching videos rather than paying attention. In addition to the smart phone the laptop is becoming more of a distraction to student learning rather than facilitating it. It is allowing students to access the plethora of information that is stored on the web with a click of a button; and sadly the temptation is too hard to resist. Carrie Fried in her article about the effects of laptops in classrooms stated, "The level of laptop use was significantly and negatively related to student learning. The more students used their laptops in class, the lower their class performance." (p. 910) Laptops are more of problem than a tool. Students are on their laptops rather that digesting the material that is being taught by the professor. This lack of focus is affecting their attention in addition to their grade.

            Modern society is changing as technology is being incorporated in everything. Socially, communication is shifting from physical to digital as people rely more and more on their phones and social media to keep up with one another. In colleges and universities, students are spending more and more time on their respected devices than any other activity during the day. It is affecting their social interactions as well as their attention span. Students are becoming less able to focus their attention on the real world without glancing at their device.  How long until all classes are done online and all social and academic interaction are done through the Internet. This may sound crazy, however, this is where it looks like the world is heading.

             

Bibliography

Fried, C. B. (2008). “In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning.” Computers and Education, 50 (3), 906-914. 5 Sept. 2006. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

Weiss, Brittany. "Technology Makes Our Attention Spans Shorter than a Fish." WBRZ. WBRZ, 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.

Castelles, Manuel. "The Impact of the Internet on Society: A Global Perspective." MIT Technology Review. MIT, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

Roberts, Jim. "Cellphone Addiction Is ‘an Increasingly Realistic Possibility,’ Baylor Study of College Students Reveals." Media Communications. N.p., 27 Aug. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.