Putting Mindfulness into Action while Multitasking
By Kamare Edwards, 11/1/19 (Header image by Free Images on Flickr Commons)
Over the past decade, life has become much busier, in addition, to more digital. Digital and social media has become an essential and practically ubiquitous part of day-to-day life. Scan a college classroom and you will likely see a few students texting, surfing the web, or updating social media profiles during a lecture or while taking notes. Even while studying or completing homework, you will momentarily see students checking their phones in the midst of their studies.
“I honestly think I have a problem.”
That was the mortified response of 22 year-old self-proclaimed “avid multi-tasker” Katie Nelson after recently being made aware of her multitasking habits.
“You just don’t realize it, you know, but I honestly don’t think I could go more than a few minutes without checking my phone. Lately, I’ve had to actively prevent myself from reaching for my phone in-class or while I’m studying and doing homework. It really puts into perspective how dependent we are on these things, you know?”
Some scoff at the ideas of young adults being dependent on technology but Katie’s dilemma is actually valid.
According to a study in about eight years ago, almost 40% of students stated they were unable to go more than ten minutes without checking their phones or other digital devices. In another study conducted around the same time, college students in 2011 acknowledged that they engaged with some form of technology during their studies.
Professor Caulken here at ICC had a few choice comments about the trends.
“Technology is essential to college life. To say otherwise would be absolutely ridiculous. But there is still the primary concern of how we make sure this technology is being used appropriately and isn’t becoming a complete disturbance.”
When asked if she finds this sort of behavior to be prevalent here, she laughed, “Absolutely.”
“If only I had a dollar for every time I saw a phone get whipped out during class assignments or just see students with notebooks on their knees in the halls, notebooks that are completely discarded in favor of some text. It’s prevalent in college, and it’s just as prevalent in day-to-day life. I suppose one of the scariest things is that most people don’t grow out of this.”
Despite her grievances about technology use during class, Caulken doesn’t employed a rule against cellphones. However, she advised her students against the dangers of multitasking and concludes asking students to be more mindful of their classroom behaviors.
“A lot of people will put their phones away when talking to someone or having a meal with someone. Mindfulness. It really just comes down to that.”