I did those things too. And I remember feeling somewhat isolated because I did and the vast majority of my peers did not.
I don't think these things have changed. There are still hard working intellectual students. They are the minority. I stand by my opinion on this. I think we exaggerate our recollection of how popular activities that we (intellectuals) pursued at that time. This hasn't changed and it is simply more unwarranted fear that somehow standards are slipping. They were never as high as we imagined them to be. Nancy Melucci LBCC -----Original Message----- From: Annette Taylor <tay...@sandiego.edu> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Sent: Sun, Nov 21, 2010 9:54 am Subject: RE: [tips] texter and gamer, Facebook addict and YouTube potato But honestly, I DID read Catcher in the Rye and Romeo and Juliet and Lord of the Flies, 1984 etc. even though I HATED doing it, didn't like reading them one bit at that time, probably didn't get out of it what I should have, although ironically I do remember a lot about them, because there really wasn't that much else to take up my time. I did it by default, not because I wanted some higher intellectual stimulation. So I think that in the "good old days" students did more academic work simply because they were bored and had not much else to do that was readily available as something to do. I did grow up in Chicago (emphasis on "in" as in smack dab in the middle, and not the suburbs), and again, did cultural events by default--getting out of doing something else when bored so went to the Art Institute or the downtown library (now gone), or Lincoln Park zoo, or the theater, etc. The good thing was that those experiences have stayed with me even though I might not have appreciated them at the time or gotten as much out of them as I could have/should have. I wonder if the ready availability of electronics would have changed that. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu From: drnanjo [drna...@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 8:31 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] texter and gamer, Facebook addict and YouTube potato I can appreciate the concern that there may be a lot of young people ho are incapable of reading a complete novel or be as focused on tasks s some adults like but it ignores the kids who are into the Harry Potter ooks, the Narnia books, and many other book series. How are these ids able to read such thick and complex books if all they can attend to re tweets and text messages? Indeed I wonder too if we simply over-estimate the number of young people in the legendary "olden days" who enjoyed (or did) read complete novels and seek out higher-level intellectual/cultural experiences. It reminds me of the same fixation on "kids were better back then" or "it was better back then" that forgets that "back then" (as recently as the second quarter of the 20th C children still died much more frequently than they do now of easily treated or prevented [vaccination] diseases.) Or that psychologists at that time wrote the same articles about comic books destroying the intellects and moral character of youth that they now write about video games and tweeting and Facebook. for the record I am not objective about Facebook - I have an FB page and I love it. Admittedly I spend a lot of time there. But I think this is the same old same old back again for more rumination. The good old days simply weren't. They never were. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij <m...@nyu.edu> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Cc: Mike Palij <m...@nyu.edu> Sent: Sun, Nov 21, 2010 8:20 am Subject: re: [tips] texter and gamer, Facebook addict and YouTube potato On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 07:27:38 -0800, Annette Taylor wrote: This link was posted on the pod list today so some of you have probably seen it; but for those of you for whom it is new, it supports what we have probably all seen in the last decade: the hypnotic? addictive? lure of the internet for our students when they should be studying. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=1&hp Michael Smith mode on: was going to read it but it was too long. Does anyone have a weeter version of the article? ichael Smith mode off. A quote provided in the NY Times news summary email is this: |"Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing. The worry is we're raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently." MICHAEL RICH, executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health, on how digital technology affects children. Now, I may be wrong or I misunderstand my pop neuroscience but sn't Rich's concern unfounded? True, students and young people ay find it more reinforcing and/or interesting to engage in various igital media -- especially short form -- but if we believe in the lasticity of the human brain throughout the lifespan, isn't the brain eing continually rewired (neurologist Richard Restak, of author of Receptors", "The Brain", and "The New Brain", says in the latter hat the brain is so plastic that parts of it are different after a lecture elative to its state before a lecture)? If experience continually rewires he brain, shouldn't the concern be with behavioral and environmental ontrol to make sure that certain skills are developed and maintained, ike reading novels in book form? If "Vishal" can only read 43 pages f Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" in two months (the article is unclear hether he was reading it in paper form or ebook format), might this e more about more poor contingency control (i.e., lack of reinforcing ook reading) than a rewired brain that is incapable of handling novel ength narratives? I can appreciate the concern that there may be a lot of young people ho are incapable of reading a complete novel or be as focused on tasks s some adults like but it ignores the kids who are into the Harry Potter ooks, the Narnia books, and many other book series. How are these ids able to read such thick and complex books if all they can attend to re tweets and text messages? Too bad the article didn't interview any yeshiva students, especially hose in high school which would be the appropriate comparison group. hese students also make use of digital media (at the very least, the modern orthodox") as well as devoted Torah study and the study f other texts. -Mike Palij ew York University p...@nyu.edu -- ou are currently subscribed to tips as: drna...@aol.com. o unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b878&n=T&l=tips&o=6646 r send a blank email to leave-6646-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tay...@sandiego.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0&n=T&l=tips&o=6648 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-6648-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: drna...@aol.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b878&n=T&l=tips&o=6649 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-6649-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6651 or send a blank email to leave-6651-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
