Sparks Article Summary

On average students from the ages of 13 to 18 use at least 6 different forms of media at the same time when they are not in school. Students tend to pay attention to multiple forms of social media because they have a fear of missing out on something. But the brain is incapable of doing two things at once so they pay attention to one thing and then the other. It takes longer for someone to do two things at once than if they were to do them separately. Thus, multi-tasking makes students slower and makes it harder for them to memorize things. When students have things like calls and text messages interrupt them while they are reading they have to switch their focus from one thing to another making it harder to memorize what they were reading. Students responding to their cell phones is compared to the marshmallow test given to children. The children were given a marshmallow but they were told if they were able to hold off on eating the marshmallow they would receive two marshmallows. The children who were able to wait for the two marshmallows did better in school than the children who couldn’t. In a similar way, the students who do not go for their phones immediately do better on tests and have better memories than those who do.

“Multi-tasking” is something most if not all people think they do all the time, including me. When I am at home I am constantly watching, or listening videos on my phone whenever I am doing anything like eating, cooking, or even playing video games. I typically pay more attention on the other task than I do on to my phone but I still try to pay attention to both mediums. I’ve always known I can’t pay full attention to both things so the only time I am not watching something on my phone is when I need to focus on something like homework. At work depending on where I am I need to take orders for someone while I make sure I get other costumer’s orders ready while also keeping the area clean. I also will need to talk to people while my coworkers talk directly into my ear through an earpiece. I have noticed that I am not actually doing all those things at one time I am shifting my focus from one to another.

Works cited

Sparks, Sarah. “Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control” edweek.org. Editorial Projects in Education. 15 May. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2016 <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/16/31multitasking_ep.h31.html?tkn=PTWFGpBwR5o7bKrnCvQZswL8Vr%2BlUoJB%2B62c&cmp=clp-edweek>