21st Century Students: 'Rewired' for Today

Twenty-first century students are being exposed to more than ever before: they are connecting to people world-wide, they are constantly multi-tasking, they are creating with virtual tools, and they are accessing more information in a second than what even existed three years ago. How do all of these lifestyle changes affect our brains?

What is the downside to our kids being constantly connected? “Downtime is to the brain what sleep is to the body,” said Dr. Rich of Harvard Medical School. “But kids are in a constant mode of stimulation.” Research shows that learning actually takes place during periods of inactivity, which is a critical window of time for our brains to process experiences, make connections, and transfer them into long-term memories.

Markus Dworak, a Harvard researcher, says, ““When you look at vocabulary and look at a huge stimulus after that, your brain has to decide which information to store….Your brain might favor the emotionally stimulating information over the vocabulary.”

As teachers we need to teach students to take a break from their learning to digest this information and file it appropriately in order for it them to be able to access it in the future.

The fact is, fast-paced clicks on the computer are stimulating and can actually incite a shot of dopamine in your brain, which can be addictive. Attention is the fundamental piece that determines what we are conscious of, what information we take in, and then how we process it. This struggle over where to place attention is constant and may result in our brains adapting and becoming more comfortable in this state of chaos.

Although examining the impact of technology on our learning environments can raise some concerns, it is incredibly exciting at the same time. The information that is at the students’ fingertips every second is thrilling. An enormous shift is taking place in education at this very second. Educational systems and philosophies are being transformed as they reevaluate where emphasis is being placed: analyzing, evaluating and creating with this depth of information on the world wide web versus cluttering our brains with the lower-level cognitive processes of remembering and understanding isolated concepts.

At home, many parents are struggling with how to moderate their children’s technology usage. Unfortunately, there is no exact science to parenting and many of us question ourselves each day about whether are handling situations in the right way. My simple advice when it comes to moderating technology is: trust your instincts.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Increased stress and anxiety may be caused by interrupted sleep due to technology use.

2. Multi-tasking with technology while studying may result in less information being retained.

3. Unmonitored communication through devices may not give children enough structure to understand the ramifications of what is being shared in the world of social media.

While the technological world is advancing so quickly that many of us can barely keep up, our children are depending on us to guide them on how to explore this whole new world that is opening up before them, while also being responsible and staying true to who they are.

The bottom line is that we all need moderation in our lives, whether we are talking about technology or any other activity such as eating, working, etc. We have the power to make these choices on a daily basis, and a balanced existence is going to be the healthiest and most effective way to live. It is our job to educate our children and model for them how to balance the many demands on their minds and in their lives appropriately.

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