The Time cover story from March 27, features an article on how media saturated and incessantly multi-tasking most of today’s teenagers have become. Researchers studied 32 families in LA for four years looking at how today’s families interact. One of their findings shows that electronic media consume considerable amounts of a family’s time, greatly affecting regular interactions in ways unheard of 20 years ago. In addition, children, especially teens are fitting more media into the same amount of time as their predecessors of a decade ago. Watching TV, talking on a cell phone, and chatting online simultaneously, they cram 8.5 hours of media use into 6.5 hours of real time. Researchers point to studies that show that output and depth of thought deteriorate as a person attempts to attend to multiple tasks. Teachers and professors also believe students are becoming dependent on their media stimuli, with many unable to walk from one class to the next without pulling out their phones or iPods to absorb the 4 minute passing time. While the current generation has become very good at manipulating information, using visual and audio clips in multi-media presentations in class, many college professors feel writing and critical thinking skills are suffering in the media saturation.
(Time.com March 27, 2006)
Quoted from The Ivy Jungle Network Campus Ministry Update May 2006.