Addiction, Distraction and Bullying -21st Century Discipline

South Korea took action by creating the Shutdown Law, also known as the Cinderella Law, in 2011. Children under the age of 16 are forbidden to play online video games between the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. The concern that triggered this law was internet addiction and children not getting sleep caused by playing video games all night. (Le, 2017)

In a 2013 study at California State University, Dominguez Hills, researchers discovered that students average less than six minutes focused on a task while studying prior to being distracted by technology. (Rosen, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013)

Monica Lewinsky shared her story of worldwide shame and how public humiliation has become a commodity that is permanently accessible. (TED Talks, 2015)

Technology has put the world at our fingertips enabling continuous access to data, information, news, and media content in a variety of modalities. It has also opened the doors to addictive, detrimental, human behaviors. Three of these behaviors that are addressed daily in our classrooms is addiction, distraction, and bullying.

South Korea’s attempt at limiting gaming by implementing a law is an example that could be modified to enforcing no personal tech allowed during instruction and then allowing “tech time” intervals. This strategy has been used successfully in some classrooms and not so successful in others. Dominguez Hills research reveals that personal devices are distracting and have a negative effect on learning, regardless of what the iGens say or think. Their research suggests allowing “technology breaks” and metacognitive strategies regarding interruptions. (Rosen et al., 2013)

And finally, the demise of our youth’s souls, the ability to publicly shame, ridicule and bully without remorse. Monica Lewinsky’s message encourages compassion and empathy, emotions lacking in our youth. Horacio Sanchez, author of The Education Revolution suggest isopraxism or mimicry shows that positive school culture can reverse negative student behavior. (Sanchez, 2017)

Prayers, empathy, and compassion to the families in Parkland, Florida.

Le, D. H. K. (2017). South Korea Special- Internet Gaming Shutdown Law aka “Cinderella Curfew” – CGI Clinic. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://cgiclinic.com/south-korea-special-shutdown-law-aka-cinderella-curfew/

Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 948–958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.001

Sanchez, H. (2017). The Education Revolution: How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction ... - Horacio Sanchez - Google Books. (Corwin, Ed.) (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Education_Revolution.html?id=bp4TDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

TED Talks. (2015). The price of shame | Monica Lewinsky - YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U