Almost exactly fifty-two years ago, on September 19, 1961, Barney and Betty Hill were driving to Portsmouth from Niagara Falls late in the night. Upon seeing a floating orb that seemed to change direction in the sky, they began to use small back roads in an attempt to follow it. Though neither of the Hills could readily remember what happened next, after undergoing hypnosis treatment, they became some of the first people to recount an abduction scenario by what UFO theorists now contend are "The Grays." All of the familiar "tell tale" details are there for the first time: telepathy, "wrap-around" eyes, small nose, examining table, and memory loss. What made the Hills seek out the hypnosis sessions -that many psychiatrists have stated planted these false memories in the first place- was the fact that the 4 hour trip seemed to take over 7 hours to complete. The Hills could not remember where those 3 hours went; this discrepancy received a moniker- "missing time." From 1965 onward, the phenomena of "missing time" has become a staple and ubiquitous feature of all UFO abduction stories.
Now, I am not in any way implying that we are all abducted on a regular basis, but I do tell this story to illustrate the "missing time" in all of our lives; and, as an educator, I am particularly concerned about the time missing in the lives of my students. Let me illustrate further. My first experience with this phenomena occurred in the summer of 2002 when a friend from high school returned from college with an X-Box and the first release of HALO. Sitting in his parents' home movie theater, eating cherries from a local Korean market, and becoming lost in this hypothetical world of Alien Destruction (perhaps getting a little revenge for Betty and Barney Hill!), I was blown away by the graphics, the game-play, the attention to detail, and the overall experience. However, somehow during that night, aliens stole six hours of my life from me, time I will never get back.
It seems that ever since that day, technology has gotten better and better at producing periods of "missing time" in my life. Smartphones, tablets, powerful laptops, YouTube, Hulu, Instagram, Facebook, texting, email, web posts, blogging, etc.- all lead to that now familiar experience and intense incredulity when looking at the clock you notice that have just lost hours of your life, and really, you have no idea what you did during the "missing time." Perhaps hypnosis would reveal what cat meme was so funny that it needed to be re-posted and liked and commented upon, what decision Ron Wash made that really deserved 58 texts to unravel, what number of videos out of an incredibly long video string of guys making different versions of hiking stoves out of empty cans really needed to be viewed, how many pics of people, pets, or babies do you need to view from friends whose last names you barely recall? Would hypnosis help? It's probably not a terrible idea! If someone actually recorded us when we delve into the digital world or provided us with a way of reliving it, maybe we might be less likely to re enter the trap so innocently or so often after having to watch our technologically abducted selves go through the now familiar and catatonic motions of thumb scrolling and bleary-eyed reading.
Now, this of course begs the question: why has an educator who is fully committed to expanding his capabilities and enhancing the learning in his classroom using any and all available technology decided to blog about the pitfalls of the very tool that necessarily must be implemented in the 21st century classroom? Let me answer this with another anecdote, if you will bear with me. Hearing that a student was struggling with homework for several hours, my teaching team immediately asked them to come in for a meeting. Though there were other contributing factors, what also emerged was a clear-cut case of technological abduction and the subsequent missing time. A Spelling activity assigned by a colleague and designed and tested to require a maximum of 5 minutes (the alphabetizing of a list of a dozen words) ended up requiring over half an hour of bleary-eyed manipulation and stress inducing frustration. The victim: a conscientious fifth grade student. The abductor: an iPad and Notability. Typing in the words, attempting to move and manipulate them using an app designed for note-taking, becoming concerned with overall appearance, font, rows and columns vs. list, etc., then being unable to simply erase and repair a mistake due to the app's shortcomings- resulted in the student spending an inordinate amount of time on this assignment.
In class, I have seen similar issues: manipulation of home-screens, changing of wall-paper, reading the 85 texts and watching videos sent by friends overnight, simply surfing through downloaded apps, facetiming, etc. Students are losing time in small packets throughout their open work time. But, this is not unexpected. The novelty will wear off. Grades will begin to reflect student choice. Homework loads will become greater when in-class work time is not utilized. Developmentally, this is not new to a fifth grade teacher. Students usually spend the first trimester of Middle School testing boundaries, pushing limits, searching for shortcuts, and discovering successful study strategies when their other attempts fail. However, so much more is now in the hands of the student. He is given a choice: Do I take ownership of my learning, stay on task, complete my work, or do I stray, self-distract, play instead? In past years, a teacher could just remove anything distracting from the student- provide him a calm place to do his work with only the tools required. Now, the student's videos, books, texts, pictures, etc. are all accessible from the device he uses every class. Though the teacher can roam, watch, even check history, it is -more than ever- up to the student to self-regulate his behavior, to refrain from distraction, to show strong integrity. There is an opportunity here to really inculcate work ethic and self-discipline in a way that has never been done before. To really be successful, students must learn self-direction and self-regulation in a degree not really observed at this level before, in this type of learning environment. And it is up to us as the adults to model and instill these necessary virtues.
And, we are not without our own vices. The ease of connecting all of my devices provides multiple platforms for communication, design, grading, etc. However, it too can become an obstacle for use of time. Emails about homework, class, extra credit, grades, Renweb, sports, etc. come in nightly, hour after hour from the time I leave work at 5:45pm to when I finally turn out the light. They usually resume the next morning at around 7:00am as students remember "one last thing." On many nights I field no fewer than twenty emails from parents and students regarding some aspect of my professional life. Though I feel no downward pressure from administration to answer these until the next school day, if I were to wait, my planning periods and lunches would be nothing but email correspondence. I might miss those emails asking to speak with a child first thing in the morning or requesting immediate assistance on a project/homework. I feel pressure from myself to respond, to resolve issues, help out a struggling student, it's what our instincts as educators drive us to do every class, every day. Now, tack on the pics my family wants me to post of our new son, the emails from my oldest friends about their lives across the globe, the texts from friends and family in Dallas asking about the next game, vacation, get together, etc., my own time wasting hobbies like Fantasy Football or searching the REI closeout specials...result: more "missing time."
Connectivity is miraculous, wonderful, a breakthrough, a game changer, a world leveler. It has changed our approach to education, creation, logistics, design, art, music, everything! But, we have to be cognizant of the time wasting, the abduction of large chunks of our day. A student should be working at home in a way that fosters his learning, enhances his knowledge and mastery of a concept, focuses his understanding. He should not be spending thirty minutes writing down twelve words, an hour sending and reading texts and emails with his friends, or 45 minutes editing a two minute video. A teacher should be planning his year, creating new projects, learning new methods, expanding his professional ability, determining specific strategies for individual students; yet, he too can be victimized, his time abducted, his focus lost.
And so I am considering something: a break. We could all use a re-boot. Perhaps a period of time with nothing electronic- a tech holiday! At a recent tech conference in Austin there was a tent without fancy advertising, crazy lights, the latest gizmos, etc. In fact, there were only three sorts of things in the tent: tables, chairs, and a locking cabinet. Instead of trying out the latest gaming PC or scrolling through prototype phones, or learning the capabilities of a hypothetical quantum c.p.u., the people who walked into this bare and unassuming tent were asked to surrender their electronic devices (which were promptly labeled and placed in the locking cabinet) then sit at one of the tables and have a conversation with a stranger. According to one of the tent's designers, at least one person had a kind of breakdown and tried to break into the cabinet, many others found the eye contact and personal interactions intimidating at best. However, after a few hours, it was the most popular tent at the tech fair. The line stretched far, and soon there was only standing room available in the "tech free zone." I wonder if that tent became so popular because it was a speck of the real in the midst of the virtual where people could experience something worthwhile in a sea of devices poised (and seemingly designed) for time theft. I think it speaks of humanity, our innate natures, our need for connectivity in a way dancing electrons and ones and zeros cannot replicate.
In a few weeks, our grade heads to Camp Classen in OK for a couple of days. Rule 1: No electronic devices. And, with the Rangers out and my Fantasy Football Team in shambles, I really won't need to be on one constantly either. Two days in the "tech free zone!" What a gift for our grade; what a gift for all of us; the gift of not missing out; the gift of time.
