I was having some trouble thinking of an experiment for this week and over the weekend my youngest cousin mentioned some of his friends have abandoned their smartphone for flip phones. This got me thinking about technology and how inescapable it is, especially for young people.
I worked for a while as a neurofeedback trainer. What is that you may ask? Well, using the clients EEG (measured by placing electrodes on the person's head), we would target brain waves to increase/decrease and 'train' their brain to do so using visual and auditory cues, biofeedback (heart and breathing rates), and strategies taught to them during their sessions. (If you want to know more about it, just drop me a line. It's a pretty awesome process.)
Now the experiment I'm proposing here would be very expensive and time consuming. So let's assume that I'm the richest woman in the world and I want nothing more than to improve the education process.
I would select an average high school, and with the consent of all participants of course, I would have the students hooked up with electrodes, heart rate monitors and breathing monitors (it's really not as invasive as it sounds).
At this school 2 classes would be randomly selected and I would record their baseline EEG and biofeedback. Then the real fun begins!
One class would have students use only electronic devices for note taking/assignments (independent variable) and another class would exclusively use paper and pens for note taking/assignments (control).
The dependent variable would be the EEG and biofeedback data. I think I can safely assume that the students who use electronic devices would should neurological and biological patterns indicating a decrease in focus from their baselines, whereas the control group will show equal or improved focus from their baselines overall.
But I'm not insanely wealthy researcher, so I guess we'll never know for sure.
This is such an interesting topic! I wish you had the money to do it! Changing phones back to flip phones is not only interesting in the field you propose (neuroscience?) but it could also be taken from a cultural point of view as well. How this would affect the students socially, and how they adjust, etc. What changes happen in their practices outside of using the device? Really interesting topic!
ReplyDeleteCool idea. It's mindblowing to consider that our newest generations' babies are growing up knowing how to use a tablet before they can talk. There's got to be some effect from using technology so early in life.
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