April 21, 2008
Interview: How Cellphones Change the Way People Learn
Rich Ling argues that cellphones strengthen ties with users’ close friends and family, but might also narrow people’s understanding of the world by limiting interactions with strangers. Mr. Ling is an adjunct research scientist at the University of Michigan and a research scientist for Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company. He’s author of a new book, New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion (MIT Press, 2008).
Q. How are cellphones reshaping social connections?
A. If you think about social networks, there can be strong ties and there can be weak ties. The mobile phone is really an instrument for the intimate sphere — your closest family and your closest friends. But weak ties are also extremely important because that’s where you get information about important things. If you only spoke with your strong ties, you just hear the same things being echoed back and forth.
Q. What does that mean for a college setting?
A. It raises questions about emancipation. I grew up in Colorado and went to college in Boulder. It wasn’t that far away from home, but I hardly ever called home. I would come home every other weekend just to do my laundry or something like that. It was only like an hour’s drive. But I understand that college students now call their parents quite often, several times a day. So how is the child’s emancipation from their parents going? Are they establishing themselves as independent individuals that are ready to go out into the world on their own?
Q. Does text messaging have a different impact?
A. It’s sort of under the radar. Quite often when I’m lecturing, halfway through the class I’ll say, “How many of you guys have gotten a text message since you’ve been here?” And a third of the class or something raises their hand. It’s kind of interesting that their social world is going on in the background while they’re more or less paying attention to the lecture.
Q. More or less?
A. Yeah, hopefully more. They kind of sort of zone in and out. And that’s sort of an interesting aspect of it. It’s not very interruptive; it goes on in the background.
Q. Can that be disruptive though?
A: There are all kinds of awkward social dynamics associated with having to deal with the mobile phone. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Monday April 21, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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The cell phone has been called the world’s longest umbilical cord. Students call Mommy or
Daddy for the answers to or help with everything now. They call the campus switchboard for answers that are easily available on the university’s web site. Between helicopter parents and their offspring with cell phones, it’s amazing how often I see college students treated as if they are 7th graders. Parents don’t give their offspring any opportunity to learn how to handle things on their own and to earn their parents’ trust, because Mom or Dad is constantly checking up on the kids. I do realize that students have to have a cell phone to have phone service at all on campus now since dorm and pay phones no longer exist.
— Deborah Apr 21, 05:01 PM #
“They kind of sort of zone in and out. And that’s sort of an interesting aspect of it. It’s not very interruptive; it goes on in the background.”
Not very interruptive? Of what? Of the class as a whole, or of the student’s appreciation of the class?
I cannot see how students who are “zoning in and out” can stay with any kind of sustained argument, narrative, or discussion. For students whose education already consists of learning soundbites and factoids, the cell phone will have no measurable impact. For the others, it is going to hurt their comprehension of everything potentially worthwhile that is going on in the class.
— Landrum Kelly Apr 21, 05:33 PM #
I am all for communication no matter the mode. My only concern is the depth at which some of my students evolve as individuals; constantly attached. Case in point: In an exam; one of my students was spending an awful lot of time glancing at a green glow emanating from their desk. Clearly his/her responses to the exam may not have been their own. I could have easily punished the student with a failing grade on the exam if that wasn’t the outcome anyway. Sadly, some of our “students” don’t have the skills to even cheat with success. Maybe we ought to cover successful cheating in orientation.
— Dr. Bill Apr 21, 11:32 PM #
Er, Dr Bill, maybe you should have done something during the exam. You can’t fail a student in retrospect because you claim later you saw a green glow on their desk in the exam. Are we as tutors afraid to interfere with a student’s personal autonomy by remving their cell phone?
— Liu Xiaoxian Apr 22, 05:52 AM #
Cell Phones and MP3 Players are now banned in all of our classrooms during exams. If one is seen, the students know they will automatically fail the exam.
— D. Kepple Apr 22, 07:43 AM #
People who read this blog have expressed interest in another blog about A Nation at Risk…
If you want to know why Johnny can’t read or do math, Johnny is probably spending too much time fostering “relationships” (or playing virtual reality games) while completely ignoring the objective world.
One of the strongest arguments in favor of interactive classrooms (read give the darlings something to do other than listen and think) is that they will be entertained and NOT be talking to their friends.
— Muap Conners Apr 22, 08:05 AM #
I agree that teaching methods need to be adapted so that instructors have a chance of making an impact in students’ lives. Whether we like it or not, technology advances have changed the way students learn and interact. If education does not meet the students on their level no amount of lecturing, begging, criticizing or badgering will get them to sit still and just listen.
Let’s challenge students in the same ways complex video games and learning the language of “texting” does. (have you ever tired to interpret a string of text messages?) Let’s borrow the tools of their generation. Maybe then we can develop “traditional” knowledge, skills and abilities in non-traditional ways.
A mother of teens!
— DG Apr 22, 11:49 AM #
Though I am guilty of having given a few presentations about how teens and students are embracing these emerging technologies, (especially the social tools), I fear that people are confusing the need to understand these technologies with the need to accomodate them in too many aspects of their curricular activities.
If you have a defined and deliberate strategy to use these tools in or out of your classroom, great. If not, at least remember who the instructor is – they are the one who sets the bar in the classroom.
I’m sorry but I don’t believe that your average 18 year old has enough of a grip on their personal epistemology to drive the teaching process. Contribute, yes; drive, no.
On the other hand, if you as an educator (or parent) do not understand these tools and their potential, you will likely find yourself in the unfortunate position of having your students (or children) dictate the rules of engagement.
— JRB Apr 24, 03:56 PM #
Is anyone worried that constant texting is ruining students’ ability to concentrate (on a lecture, or on readings, or anything that requires more than ten minutes of attention)?
— gogo Apr 28, 11:34 AM #