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Nguyen Bao Tran – CA160617

Le Thi Lan Anh – CA160941

Project 2

Topic: Work with the informative text “Driven to Distractions: Our Wired Generation” by

Larry Rosen (pp. 407-409) and write a paper in response (including in-text citations, using

MLA or APA styles).

Technology plays a significant role in today's world. It is continually developing and has both

positive and negative effects on society. The informative text "Driven to Distraction: Our Wired

Generation" by Larry Rosen - a professor of psychology at California State University and the

author of five books on the "psychology of technology," mentions that today's digital technology

is distracting students or others rather than studying. As a result, the distraction generated by

technology has a significant impact on our lives; therefore, people need to learn how to

effectively manage the use of technology.

First of all, Larry Rosen (2012) has shown that electronic devices affect students' ability to

concentrate negatively. In one of the author's observational studies of student learning, Rosen

(2012) states that "The worst students were those who consumed more media each day and had a

preference for switching back and forth between several tasks at the same time." (p. 407).

Indeed, in the process of studying, some people often tend to surf social media or think about

other things while learning, which has a significant impact on their ability to concentrate.

Purposes for which social media platforms were used by the students study reported that only 1%

of the students used social media for academic objectives, and the majority of them (35–43%)

used it for leisurely chats with friends on platforms like Facebook, and Snapchat (2021).
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Consequently, academic achievement will undoubtedly be lower than those who develop their

ability to focus well. I agree with the author's viewpoint, and sometimes I am easily distracted by

social networks since the new message notification noises will divert my attention and reply to

the message immediately. Therefore, I squander a lot of time on my academics.

Secondly, knowing how to employ our metacognitive capabilities leads to many expected

outcomes. The capacity to focus must be maintained through responding to internal and external

distractions. As I mentioned above, I am easily sidetracked by social networking site

notifications. Thus, I have learned to convince myself that studying is essential rather than

responding to pointless messages and ignoring the most unnecessary things to keep focus.

However, for some people, including myself, balancing the capacity to focus with distractions is

exceedingly challenging. But with the effort to overcome that, they will find themselves

becoming more responsible for learning.

Last but not least, the "technology breaks" strategy is the author's way of talking about focused

teaching in the technology age (Rosen, 2012). Before beginning to study or work, everyone

needs to check alerts, put electronic gadgets in silent mode, and put them out of sight. If we do it

in the form of "technology breaks," which will quickly increase our ability to focus and work

more effectively. Larry Rosen (2012) also said, "Technology is not going to disappear from our

world, and it is only going to get more appealing." (p. 409). Therefore, we must learn to increase

our ability to concentrate amid the allure of technological devices.

In conclusion, the development of increasing technology is greatly disturbing our education and

social life. As a result, we must recognize that we live in a technological world and learn to avoid
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being distracted by technology by determining what is essential to focus on or employing the

"technology breaks" method. I also recognized my weakness in my ability to focus, and then I

changed my thoughts and actions by prioritizing the things that were most necessary to focus on

solving them.

References:

Rosen, L. (2012). Driven to Distraction: Our Wired Generation. In L, Hoeffner & K, Hoeffner

(Eds.), Common Places Integrated Reading and Writing (2nd ed., pp. 407-409). McGraw-Hill

Education

Kolhar, M., Kazi, R. N. A., & Alameen, A. (2021). Effect of social media use on learning, social

interactions, and sleep duration among university students. Saudi Journal of Biological

Sciences, 28(4), 2216-2222.