I was one of those weird kids who loved to read/use reference books. Naturally, I became a librarian. I entered the profession just before the Web put information, for better or worse, at everyone’s fingertips. The kids I’ve worked with have generally been less gullible than those who Googled in the aughts, but that may be because I spent time helping them learn to sift through BS and find reliable information. Spending too much time playing games is definitely a problem, but some of those kids would always find things to do besides what was assigned. E-books are getting more and more popular, but not necessarily because they are the preferred format. They make it possible for multiple users to access popular titles at once. In a school setting the SORA app allows students to check out titles system-wide in both the school and public library systems. Does giving students laptops cause cognitive decline? I dunno. Certainly it changes both learning and information seeking behavior. I’m not sure that’s inherently good or bad. I’m retired now, although I am substituting in local schools. I’m no longer observing the same students over long periods of time.
Pretty close to it, yeah. And if there any students who haven’t been given laptops, they’re likely to be unusual in many other ways, as well. Maybe in extremely poor public school districts?
Same age, different experience. I not only love the physical act of writing (I have really nice handwriting), for me it definitely helps me absorb whatever knowledge I’m trying to absorb.
At work, we are heavily CRM based and have twice weekly pipeline meetings. The office know-it-all insisted that I bring my laptop and update as we speak. I get it on a practical level, I guess. I can see where it seems more efficient, but for me it was needless overkill. By the time I had to navigate to another tab, go to the correct item, all while our boss is talking a mile a minute, I could have been writing as he was speaking. I finally had to say some variation of “you do you; I now what works best for me”.
And Amish country.
As I understand it, most Amish children attend dedicated Amish-only schools, rather than whatever public schools in their areas. (And, yeah, I imagine that the number of kids from traditional Amish families who have access to laptops is effectively zero.)