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发帖数: 29846 | 1 By Bonnie Rochman Monday, August 8, 2011
That Facebook is hugely distracting is hardly stop-the-presses kind of news,
but parents might be dismayed to learn that the social-media site can
hobble learning and make kids less healthy and more depressed.
Research has found that students in middle school, high school and college
who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period got lower
grades. Other studies have discovered that teens who use Facebook tend to
have more narcissistic tendencies, while young adults who are active on the
site display other psychological disorders. And daily use of media and
technology — what teen doesn't use tech each day? — makes kids more prone
to anxiety and depression.
The bad news was delivered over the weekend at the 119th annual convention
of the American Psychological Association by Larry Rosen, a professor of
psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, who researches
the psychology of technology.
There's good news too, of course. While Facebook and other technology has
been blamed for hijacking childhood, they also help children develop their
identities and hone their ability to empathize with others. In a study that
Rosen recently wrapped up, he found that the kids most able to show “
virtual empathy” — through supportive comments online — were those who
spent more time online than other children. “We are finding that kids who
are able to express more virtual empathy are able to expres more real-world
empathy,” says Rosen. “They feel more supported socially by online and
offline networks.”
Navigating children's online time — how much is too much? Or not enough? —
is tricky. “A parent's job is now way more complex,” says Rosen, who has
done research on how technology influences people for more than 25 years. “
We have created a world for students where they can not focus because we
have given them all this really cool stuff that is distracting. We're
teetering on the balance – too much time online can lead to health problems
and narcissism, but it can also teach you to be more empathic and develop
your sense of self.”
MORE: 'Expected: Child': Facebook Welcomes Fetuses to Social Media
While observing kids' study behavior, researchers watched as students spent
15 minutes studying something important to them. “What we found was mind-
boggling,” says Rosen. About every three minutes they are off-task. You'd
think under these constraints, knowing that someone is observing you, that
someone would be more on task.”
Some of their findings:
The more time elapsed, the more windows opened on the student's computer
. The amount of windows peaked at 8-10 minutes, and on-task behavior
declined at the same point
When students stayed on task, they performed better
When they toggled between windows and other tasks, they performed worse
“The more media they consumed per day, the worse students they were,” says
Rosen. “If they checked Facebook just once during 15 minutes, they were
worse students.”
Psychologists and teachers can combat the decline in productivity by
teaching students about the concept of metacognition — knowing how your
brain works and how to study. For studying, that means turning off Facebook
and not task-switching.
One strategy that Rosen recommends to schools is “tech breaks,” in which
teachers help students increase their attention span. Teachers start by
picking a 15-minute block of time in which students must put away their
phones and focus. When the time expires, students are allowed a one-minute
tech break to use apps, sends texts or check Facebook.
“One minute turns out to be a pretty darn long time,” says Rosen. “We now
know neurologically that if we don't have a tech break, kids are already
starting to think about anything other than what the teacher talking about.
If they know they get a tech break, they're able to stop those thoughts. It
works amazingly.”
MORE: Should Kids Under 13 Be on Facebook?
In another study, researchers gave 750 teens and adults a test to assess
psychological personality disorders. They also asked participants how much
they used technology. Even after factoring out characteristics including age
, gender, income and education, Facebook use predicted psychological
disorders.
In particular, teens who log on more are more narcissistic. “We don't know
if teens who are narcissistic are more drawn to Facebook or if Facebook
makes them narcissistic,” says Rosen.
And in different research that involved anonymous online surveys of more
than 1,000 parents who were asked about media use, health, eating habits and
exercise, moms and dads indicated that kids who used more media daily were
sicker, emotionally and physically.
“When a kid's on tech, we tend to think we don't want to bother them
because they're quiet,” says Rosen. “But that's the time you need to pay
attention. We have to start very young talking to kids about tech breaks and
exercise and time spent off media. There is a need for moderation and
balance.”
Of course, Rosen realizes he's coming at his research from a remote
perspective; his days of parenting impressionable youngsters are over now
that he's got twentysomethings. “My daughter is 21 and sends like 8,000
texts a month. My son is 24 and posts on Facebook every single thing he does
,” he says. “I'm so happy I was able to raise them in an era when the
worst thing was a bad video game.”
Find this article at:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/08/kids-who-hang-out-on-face |
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