Post #12: You Are What You App, in the App Generation by Gardner and Davis
In this book by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis, the characteristics of generations of 20th century learners are delineated through a review of the media available at certain periods of time. Media such as books and movies, are referenced to compare previous generations learning influences with today's 21st century youth, and how they develop and manage their identity, intimacy and imagination in the environment of the many available "apps". Cross-referenced against this backdrop is the generational perspectives from each of the authors and Mr. Gardner's grandchildren.
The implications are that this phenomena has taken a life of its own, and cannot be stopped. The reasons for why this was allowed to happen is subject for another blog, but in fact, that is the way it is and there is nothing anybody can do about it. Students are now allowed, and in fact, encouraged to bring their technology device into school and use it. The pressure is now on teachers to make use of how the students are spending their time on their technology device and gear their lessons towards use of those applications. But is really going to work? Once again, I would ask for the research showing that this is an improvement over other teaching methods, and what the effect on teacher "burn-out" is. Teachers already drop out at a rate of 50% or more within the first five years.
I am not of the "saber-tooth" mindset as I might sound. Experiencing the transition and loss of student attention spans as the technology continues to evolve, gives me the perspective of both environments. The book pointed out numerous references and studies which supported the implications of how students develop in the midst of using all of these apps, but there were a few more which I wanted to know about. First, the authors gave a superficial assessment of the role of parenting and how socio-economic factors might skew the generalizations being made, which they acknowledged as being superficial. Second, I wanted to see some results from the neurologists on the affects on the brain from all of this digital stimulation.
As I traveled back over this Thanksgiving break, I had two airport instances where I could observe a child using their phone in close proximity to me so I could oversee what they were using it for. The first was a teenage son playing a car video game on his phone, for a period of around 30 minutes. That in of itself is not that remarkable, what was remarkable was that the boy's father was playing the same game, while sitting next to him. They were talking as they played about different strategies and techniques of the game, that was the limit of their discussion. So, while it was good that there was discussion, it was limited to that topic only. This is a very limited observation so the conclusions are speculative, perhaps since they have a rapport, this makes it easier to discuss other topics such as school performance or safe sex. The second instance involved a little girl, about 9-11 years old, sitting next to me on the plane. For the length of our 2.5hour flight, she did nothing but play a video-game, feverishly on her phone, something like "candy-crush". This made me wonder about the brain-development question I raised earlier. This girl did nothing but stimulate the visual cortex part of her brain for that release of dopamine, and perceived happiness. After 5 years of that what is she prepared for in high school? I don't think it's going to be good. Again conclusions are speculative at best.
In the end, my observations lead to the conclusion referenced by the title of this blog, and that is, "You are what you app", or more accurately, you are what your apps make you. Digital brain programming, Pavlov would love it. When this generation leaves high school to enter the next stage of their life, given the shortcomings listed by the authors of fear of taking risks, and not being able to develop deep relationships, I am not optimistic about how they are going to be able to deal with the issues of identity, intimacy and imagination, but they will be able to do nothing but "Own it", "Just Wear It", and try to "Stay Classy".
