"Growing Up Digital: Wired for Distraction" is an extensive piece on the frequently commented meme of children being driven to distraction by the many technological devices they are engaged with - to the point it has a negative impact on both their academics and socialization.
Ironically as they are wired to devices, some wireless, they are wireless from studies, family, community in many cases.
Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention.
“Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing,” said Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston. And the effects could linger: “The worry is we’re raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently.”
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