American Joe Clement (Fairfax, Virginia; 54 years old) has been teaching high school for 30 years and a decade ago he began to worry about his students' addiction to technology. The result of a thorough analysis, he co-wrote in 2017 Screen Schooled (Educated on Screen) with his partner Matt Miles, who fueled the public debate about its use in his country, where children dream of having their first mobile phone when they are nine years old or younger. EL PAÍS interviewed Clement, who teaches Economics and Government to students, within the framework of an educational meeting of the Qatar Foundation in which the teacher addressed the consequences of this “overdose” of cell phones and tablets.
Ask. At this time in Spain, parents are beginning to debate about their children's use of mobile phones.
Answer. That's ok. Technology is an advantage, but it also creates addiction in children.
Q. Do you have a cell phone?
R. Yes, but the difference is that a child's brain develops the ability to make decisions, to think critically until the late teens and early 20s. We adults grew up without phones and for us they are just an accessory. If you don't know anything other than your phone, you make really bad decisions. You spend all day playing video games, watching pornography, and browsing social media. So, when you're a parent, you have to ask yourself: at what age do I think my child is ready for unlimited video games and entertainment?
Q. What is the appropriate age to give a mobile phone?
R. My nine-year-old daughter is the only one of her friends who doesn't have access to a phone or tablet. The later the better.
Q. In Spain it is very common when you go to secondary school, at 12 years old.
R. It's still very early. The bad side of phones cannot be ignored. We want to think that magically our kids are just going to use all the good things, when that doesn't happen.
Q. When did you start worrying about screen use?
R. A decade ago. I realized that the students did not have the ability to think critically, they did not concentrate for a long time, nor did they read in depth. I discussed it with another teacher and we began to talk about addiction to technology and became interested in the effect of so much time in front of a screen. Our book emerged from all of that.
Q. And didn't other teachers join in?
R. No no. We thought they would say, “oh, good job” when we wrote it, but no. We spent a lot of money on computers and tablets, and people didn't want to hear about how maybe it wasn't that good. Although there was some social reaction, attention was paid to the issue [en los medios].
Q. In their book they also claim that technology kills curiosity.
R. Yes. You don't have to think anymore. Hey, what is blah blah blah? Look it up, right?
Q. But before we consulted the dictionary.
R. Before you were looking for a word, but you had to sit down and think: how do I solve that problem? Now you can return to the video game. Technology kills curiosity. And then there's the false narrative that because there's so much information, kids are so curious that they're going to be learning all the time, when that's not the case. If at 12 or 15 years old I had been playing with my cell phone, I would not have known great works of literature.
Q. Do they have such poor reading comprehension?
R. When you read on your phone all the time, you train your brain to read only two or three sentences and your brain then needs new stimulation. When you try to refocus, you forgot where you were and the context. So you are not understanding the full meaning of what you read.
Q. Do you see problems in handwriting?
R. If many. When I return the work to my students, the comments have to be in print-like handwriting, because they don't know how to read handwriting. And theirs are often very difficult to read because they simply never practice. Writing is important for content, grammar and spelling.
Q. Do you use computers in class?
R. At our school, every student has a computer. There are times when it makes sense for them to look for something. In an astronomy class I would want my students to see stars on the computer, but the number of times a screen is the best tool is quite small. If you use chalk all day it is boring, but it does not harm children, while screens do.
Q. What should parents do?
R. Talk between them. The cell phone is often given to the son so that he is not the only one who does not have it. But if it is agreed that they do not have it until they are 15 or 18 years old, the boys will interact and play. You can tell him that he has 45 minutes to play with the screens, but then he will tell you that he has to do his homework on the computer and meanwhile, on-line, plays games and watches movies. 20 minute homework is done in that time with a printed book, because it is actually read, while on-line It takes three hours. They get distracted and go from here to there.
Q. But Americans are very good at oral expression, they encourage debates.
R. That's definitely decreasing. It's funny you say that, because last week I had this conversation with my students about it. I told them that three times this year they are going to have to speak in public. They don't want to participate because, you know, they think they're showing that they communicate with the world with their phone. Companies look for people who can give a presentation and be convincing, you have to practice.
Q. In the 21st century, certain technological skills are also needed.
R. In the old days, you would turn on a computer and all you would see was a message and a little flashing cursor. And that was it. There were no photos so it was quite difficult to use. Now, a child can literally turn on computers and use them. The hard part is thinking, concentrating, problem-solving, when we have to be able to do that in the real world.
Q. What do you think that Sweden is going to return to printed books?
R. In the United States, we have more and more phones and more and more computers. Not only Sweden, Great Britain and France have banned cell phones in schools. The rest of the world is beginning to wake up and solve the problem, measures to solve this health crisis.
Q. A mental health crisis worsened by the pandemic.
R. Yes of course. If social media was so good then and it was so good for kids to have computers, people should be happier now, right? And they are not. They are sad. And children are committing suicide, they are more anxious and depressed than ever. There are now enough studies to show that there is causality: the more we spend time in front of the screen, the worse we are psychologically. And that's why I think some nations are waking up.
Q. A Stanford University study states that only 9% of technological applications have proven useful.
R. It's lik
e that. Educational tools are often developed by people who have never been in the classroom and do not usually consult teachers. Their main goal is to make money and they are constantly looking for ways to collect data from students and schools to sell, when what needs to be prioritized is what is good for children.
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