You are connected... to what or to whom?

con·nect·ed

  [kuh-nek-tid]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

united, joined, or linked.

2.

having a connection.

3.

joined together in sequence; linked coherently: connected ideas.

4.

related by family ties.

5.

having social or professional relationships, especially with influential or powerful persons.

Reference: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/connected?s=t)

Each generation defines connected differently in terms of societies norms of the time. I have always been conflicted as a mom raising 3 children in today's society too much technology or too little? I believe Socrates (or some great philosopher) said written books were going to be the down fall of society, since what made us intelligent was the ability to debate issues through conversation. Now, some philosophers might say technology is going to be the down fall of society, since again the art of conversation will be lost. Well, books never went away, so it is safe to say technology is not going away. Instead of resisting the inevitable change in society, we as teachers, parents, or people living in today's society need to adjust, adapt, alter our methodologies to educate today's child. Our roles as teacher and learner are changing. Ben's Blog is very entertaining and supports what I am trying to say here.

Turkel's article is not against technology, but rather a better understanding of the false sense of connectedness. She also points out the ability of people in today's society to be able to multitask and even explains a new skill: "My students tell me about an important new skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while you text someone else; it’s hard, but it can be done."  The only people her students are fooling are those other people multitasking. Those of us who are not multitasking can spot the hesitations in a conversation, the nuances, the body language that their not completely there. Students are also not fooling their brains according to UCLA Associate Professor of Psychology Russ Poldrack in "The Multitasking Mess" by Carol Mithers. I usually explain this to my students, if you want to learn something short term, than fine do your multitasking. If you want to learn something long term and be able to retrieve the information months down the road (NECAP, PARCC), than don't multitask when your studying. I think Mithers says it better than I: "In other words, if you or your kids want to learn something permanently and usefully, do something very old school: Shut up, sit still, and pay attention."

The question is who or what are you connected to?