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Hannah Hahn
Focused Inquiry II
Professor Murray
5 December 2014
Argumentative Essay Final Draft
Introduction
Within the last few years, public school systems have been increasing the amount of
technology in the curriculum. We should use less technology in the classroom, because it
decreases the amount of material that is getting learned in classrooms and can be a
distraction to students. Technology actually hinders our learning experiences, because it is
harder to absorb information that is written online, compared to information that is coming out of
a text book. It also is a host of many other websites that are a distraction to students, such as
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Doing activities for school on a computer, such as taking an
online quiz or doing an online lab, can make it tempting for a student to go on other websites.
Reducing the amount of technology that we use in the classroom would help improve the
amount of information that student learn because it would decrease the risk of being
exposed to distracting social media websites, and help students to better absorb and
remember information that is taught to them in the classroom.
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Reading articles online lead us to absorb less information (consequence)
Researchers have actually found that reading a piece of text online makes students less
likely to absorb and remember the information presented to them, because it can “impair the
comprehension” of the material that is given to them (Jabr). The way that our brains decipher the
physicality of words on a page, causes us to learn more of what is written there. It also gives our
brains more physical dimensions of what we are reading. The endless scrolling that an online
textbook or article makes us do, is too unorganized for our brains to handle, compared to a book
that has 4 sides to every page with every line of the page ending in around the same area, and
with the margins being equal on every side. The “seamless stream of words” used in online
articles is enough to prevent us from retaining the information that is read (Jabr). The majority
of the studies that have been done on this subject have proven “that people read slower, less
accurately and less comprehensively on screens than on paper” (Jabr). Whenever people read on
an e-reader, nook, or an I pad, they “fail to adequately recreate certain tactile experiences of
reading on paper that many people miss and, more importantly, prevent people from navigating
long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way” (Jabr). This just goes to show that reading on
paper is not only a better experience because it is more satisfying, but also because it gives
readers more focus on the written material, helping them remember the information.
Negative impacts of reading online on attention span and comprehension (Definition,
Revision 3)
This new method of online reading has also caused our attention span to take a major hit.
It appears that we “seem to be developing digital brains with new circuits for skimming through
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the torrent of information online” (Rosenwald). This means that reading articles online may be
altering the way our brains process regular text in a book. Many teachers argue that online
activities give us access to more information, as well as expose us to different styles of learning
and giving us an overall more diverse experience. While online readings are more easily
accessible, when we read things online, a lot of times we tend to scan over the article instead of
taking the time to read it word for word. This interferes with our book reading, because we try
and skip all over the place in the book, and end up comprehending none of it. Researchers have
found that “comprehension seems better with paper”, but reading too many online articles could
interfere with that (Rosenwald). It is believed by some that “for many people, this style of
reading is beginning to invade when dealing with other mediums as well” (Rosenwald). By
reducing the amount of things we read online, and increasing the amount of print that we read,
we reduce the risk of letting our online activity interfere with our reading and comprehension
skills. There also been an increase in the amount of people who are getting diagnosed with
learning disabilities such as attention deficit disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity
disorder. While obviously some of this is due to our more in depth knowledge of disorders, it is
also due to the fact that we are exposed to many more distractions due to social media and
technology. The average attention span is dropping not only for teenagers, but also adults. This is
caused by the constant buzzing of our phones due to Facebook, Twitter, and Texting
notifications. Not only does texting and social media hinder our attention span; it hinders
our overall grammar skills, due to the new “text talk” that people use online.
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Pew Internet American Life Program (Authority)
Another way that technology in the classroom tampers with our language skills is through
texting. Since texting has become popular, the text shorthand has also become popular and used
more often. According to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Program, “64 percent
of students in the study reported inadvertently using a form of shorthand native to texting or
social networking.” (Lytle). This is a problem because this short hand is beginning to appear in
their school work, and students also “do not capitalize words or use punctuation anymore (Lytle).
While some people believe that slang is only a way of showing the way that English is evolving
as a modern language, most consider it to be a “dumbing down of culture” as well as a “broken
level of communication” (Lytle). Colleges have noticed this change in language among high
school students, but admission officers still believe that there should not be any texting short
hang in any college essays submitted to the school, or else “college admissions professionals will
toss them to the side” (Lytle). The amount of texting that students are participating in, is
beginning to get in the way of their learning in the classroom.
Bans in different schools (Comparison)
Since texting is getting in the way of so many different elements of learning, they should
be banned from schools. Similar measures have been taken to help improve students’ wellbeing,
such as cake being banned from schools. For example, at the Burlington Elementary school,
birthday cake was banned while celebrating student birthdays, due to tour nationwide obesity
problems. They have done this in the hopes that it “sends a message to the parents and kids,
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especially with the obesity rate being so high” (Brown). Banning cake from schools reduces the
temptation to eat unhealthily, and shows the importance of having a better diet. This is important
because “37 percent of our children are at risk (for obesity) or obese” (Brown). By banning cake
and other unhealthy foods from schools, Burlington elementary school has helped to “encourage
healthy eating and has made a series of major rule-changes and recommendations in the past few
years toward that end” (Brown). I believe that banning cell phones would have the same effect.
It would show students how cell phones can be a distraction, and also begin to teach young
people better habits in the classroom. It is a lot less tempting to check your cell phone during a
lesson, when it isn’t even with you. By banning cell phones, we would begin to create a better
learning environment for generations to come.
Students cell phone use in the classroom (Circumstance)
It is already know that distractions only hurt us while we are in a learning environment.
This is no exception to cellphone use in the classroom. While many students believe that they
have the capabilities of learning while using their phones in class, this is far from the truth.
According to Murphy Paul, who writes “The Brilliant Blog”, "Multitasking while doing
academic work…leads to spottier, shallower, less flexible learning” (Paul). A study was recently
done where 263 students were observed in their normal study environments, and because of the
distractions of their cellphones, “only 65 percent of the time was used on schoolwork”
(Sullivan). This means that students are now getting 35 percent less work done, due to cell phone
distractions. Studies have also shown that material that is learned while a student is on their
phone is more likely to be forgotten because it was never genuinely learnt; only memorized.
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Students believe that getting good grades means that they are still learning, despite using social
media, when in reality students are only memorizing the material until they no longer need it.
This will hurt students in the future, because down the road they could potentially have trouble
recalling information that they had learned from previous years of public education. By having
less technology and threats of social media in the classroom, we increase the student
teacher interaction that is essential for retaining information.
Student teacher interaction (Value, Revision 1)
One of the most important aspects of learning is the student teacher interaction. The
reemphasis of the learned material through the teacher is one of the most effective ways to get
newly learned material to stick with students, long after they have gone over it. Incorporating too
much technology into our school systems, however, can run risk to taking this interaction away
from the students for good. The quality of learning that students deserve to receive in the
classroom should be that of human to human interaction, as opposed to a student doing online
lessons on a computer. Replacing in class activities with online ones “takes the human
interaction out of teaching and learning” (Laplante). Many want to replace the daily lessons with
computer activities, but it is clear that the best teachers are “those who communicated, engaged
you and motivated you effectively” (Laplante). By forcing our current young adult generation to
be constantly bombarded with technology, we are being unfair to them, and now giving them as
many benefits as our older generations. While technology may seem like it gives young people
more learning opportunities, it honestly presents a false reality that technology is the answer to
all of our current problems. It also shows the sheer and utter laziness of our public school
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systems for wanting to replace all of the passionate teachers with online websites that do about
half as good of a job. If we do not undo what we have already done and reduce the role of
technology in the classroom, we run the risk of seriously faltering the mental growth of the
generations to come. The best way to learn new material is the way it has always been done, and
that is through the learning environment in the classroom where the teacher can help each
student individually.
Conclusion
By getting rid of at least half of the classroom time spent using technology, we would
help the kids currently going through public education to further prosper in the remainder of their
learning careers. Not only would they learn better and quicker; they would also be more likely to
hold on to the information they have learned and take it with them, as opposed to temporarily
learning the material in order to pass a quiz or a test. While technology is considered a luxury,
our education is not something that should be tampered with. It is best to keep the majority of
technology out of the classroom in order to reduce the risk and temptation that social media has
to offer. The fact that our brains even prefer reading excerpts from a book as opposed to an
online article, should be enough of a reason to go back to the old ways of learning. A saying that
has been around for years is that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, and this applies
perfectly to that of our brains. For years we have been learning in schools with text books and
teachers teaching our lessons face to face. Incorporating all of this new technology into the
classroom will only hurt us because it is something that we are not used to. If we try and
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transition into having the majority of our lessons being online, our overall learning rates could go
down, and the overall population would end up being less intelligent than previous generations
Bibliography
Brown, Jessica. “Burlington school bans birthday cake, sweets” Cincinnati.com. Garnett
Company. 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
Jabr, Ferris. “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”.
Scientific American. Scientific American. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
Laplante, Cody. “The Dangers of Too Much Technology in Education”. Northern Star 15 Jan
2013. Web.17 Nov 2014.
Lytle, Ryan. “How Slang Affects Students In The Classroom”. US news. 13 June 2011. Web. 21
November 2014.
Rosenwald, Michael. “Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming,
researchers say”. Washington Post. 6 April 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
Sullivan, Bob. “Students can't resist distraction for two minutes ... and neither can you” NBC
News. NBC. 18 May 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.