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IMPACT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 2

Dominique Cannon

Professor Baron

ENGL 205

July 07, 2018

Impact of Digital Technologies

Increasing use of digital technologies has significantly impacted how I interact and transact with others. The internet enables me to get information from anywhere at anytime through use of digital tools like smartphones and digital computers. My cell phone makes me available and enhances huge communications capacity right from my pocket. It has email capacity enabling me to communicate almost from anywhere. Its capacity enables social networking through applications such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter that keep me connected with others. However, like a coin with two sides, digital technologies tend to distract my learning and work as they steal much of my time. The addictiveness of use of digital technologies has made me believe that digital tools like my cell phone is the most powerful and useful tool when making choices. Excessive use of digital technologies tends to ruin my attention on significant activities and my ability to make informed choices. It distracts my thinking and independence of mind to make informed choices.

Use of digital technologies tends to distract my attention on significant life activities. Many at times I have found myself attracted to different Apps because they are designed in such a manner that they grab my attention. For instance, I will visit Facebook to read posts of organizations, friends and relatives, comment on them and view photos posted. Similarly, I will visit Whatsapp to chat with friends and relatives here and there. It is a good thing to keep connected and updated on what is going around. However, the notifications that appear from these social media networks sometimes distract whatever activity I was doing (Graff, 2016). Many at times, I have been distracted with a Whatsapp or Facebook notification during a lecture. The curiosity in me triggers me to quickly get to the site and view the message. This leaves me distracted from learning that could leave me missing some important facts taught. I agree that digital technologies cause distraction, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that they are not problematically involved with digital technologies.

Digital technologies can be very addictive leading to wastage of time. The news feeds from companies are designed in a way to “auto-refill with reasons to keep us scrolling” and intentionally eliminate any reasons for us to leave the sites (Harris, 2016). I agree with Harris (2016) that social media sites like “YouTube auto play the next video” purposely to eliminate any reason for leaving the site because my experience of spending a little more time on a site confirms it. This is because spending more time on the site means increased pay for the company. The companies ensure that they maximize interruptions ruining attention and causing unnecessary interruptions daily. These unnecessary interruptions lead to wastage of time since I always feel like spending one more minute on the site and may end up spending a couple of hours distracting me from concentrating on significant life activities.

Digital technologies affect my concentration during class time preventing optimal learning. It has become quite difficult for students using digital technologies to fully concentrate in their learning due to the many distractions that affect concentration and learning (Attia et al, 2017). Invasion of different technologies such as cell phones and laptops in the classroom negatively impact concentration and learning. Pop-up messages in my cell phone and laptop during class increase the number of errors due to lack of concentration. I agree with Attia and his team (2017) that use of technologies reduces student’s performance. Their findings indicate that at least 67% of students using cell phones in the classroom are distracted while 21% are extremely disturbed that significantly affects their learning. I agree that cell phones affect student attention and concentration because I am easily distracted by messages that pop-up.

Technology gives more choices in almost every domain of life from jobs to dating to learning to communicating among others. According to Harris (2016) these choices offered have made us think that our phones are the most powerful and useful menu when it comes to making informed choices. She questions the ability of our phones to make life choices

“the more choices technology gives us in nearly every domain of our lives (information, events, places to go, friends, dating, jobs), the more we assume that our phone is always the most empowering and useful menu to pick from. But is it (Harris, 2016)?”

I am no exception to the thinking that my phone is the most empowering and useful tool when it comes to making informed decisions. I tend to rely on it heavily to pick from the choices provided to suit my situation. I find it easy to pull my phone out of my pocket, swipe down my finger and find the many choices technology gives and get one that is the best match for my situation. Graff (2016) states that

“the volume of new information that the web makes so easily available overwhelms us preventing us from thinking clearly.”

I agree with his argument because with the available choices, I rarely find myself asking of other potential solutions that are not among the provided choices. I think technology hijacks my mind preventing me from thinking critically about a problem and potential solutions.

Digital technologies can be very meaningful to life activities if properly used. However, excessive use of these digital technologies tends to ruin my attention on significant activities and my ability to make informed choices. My learning, thinking and writing has been negatively affected by excessive use of these technologies. I am distracted in one way or another by using these technologies in different settings including class and the workplace. The distraction they cause during class time can have severe consequences such as low scores that affect overall academic performance. The time wasted visiting sites can be used for more meaningful activities. Instructors and employees should set strict rules to manage use of digital technologies. This should help make digital tools more meaningful to life activities.

Works Cited Attia, N. A., Baig, L., Marzouk, Y. I., & Khan, A. (2017). The potential effect of technology and distractions on undergraduate students’ concentration. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 33(4): 860–865. Graff, G. (2016, 09). "IMHO" Is Digital Communication Good or Bad- or Both? Retrieved from Wordpress: https://compcourseblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/imho.pdf Harris, T. (2016, July 27). The Slot Machine in Your Pocket. Retrieved from Speigel Online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/smartphone-addiction-is-part-of-the-design-a-1104237.html