"Professors can take comfort that those students surfing Facebook during class are simply demonstrating the skill of what Davidson calls 'continuous partial attention,' which is essential for thriving in today's world." --Rick Ostrander, "Learning to Surf: A College Provost Encounters the Digital Revolution" in Books and Culture (March/April 2013); Ostrander is reviewing Cathy Davidson's Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
I think Davidson is confused about "continuous partial attention." She has misconstrued an is with an ought. That students are coming to classrooms with this "skill" is undeniable. I see it in my elementary age students. Unfortunately, I see it in myself. I see it in myself as I have again walked into the university classroom in my mid-30s. Can I concentrate on my studies so well as I could fifteen years ago? I observe myself trying to write history papers on my laptop while the latest current events tempt me from a couple of clicks away. Are the Red Sox winning? Have they scored since I last checked fifteen minutes ago? Who's that singing on Pandora right now?
I seem to have developed the skill of "continuous partial attention" over the years as technology plays an ever more essential role in my everyday life. As a teacher of students with this skill already well-developed, I use the skill everyday. I teach a lesson, watch two students loudly talking in the corner and think about whether I should take away their computer game time yet for not paying attention, listen to a child on the other end of the room calling out to me that he has a bloody nose, and try to figure out why the projector isn't working properly--all at the same time! Students seem to have less ability to pay attention for any length of time. This leads them into a myriad of distractions for themselves, classmates, and teachers. Perhaps this skill is required in today's world after all... at least in some professions. But should it be? Is this the sort of society we want to create for ourselves?
After observation of both my students and myself, I can say that both the scholarly work I produce at the university while using "continuous partial attention" and the products of my students who extensively utilize this skill are much poorer as a result. It takes me longer to read a history article and I retain less content. It takes me longer to write a history paper and the quality is lower besides. I can say the same for the research products of my elementary students. I am certainly not qualified to answer this question, but I still wonder: is the human brain capable of producing high-level results when utilizing "continuous partial attention"? I've no doubt that the brain could adapt through evolution to new conditions that required such a skill over a span of, say, 10, 000 years... but the Internet technology that has spurred this whole discussion has been around for around twenty years.
Whatever evolution may yet do, my brain has not adapted well to the necessity for "continuous partial attention" in order to thrive in today's world. Furthermore, I want to accomplish more genuine experiences in my lifetime than the extensive use of this skill will permit. I want to read plenty of history, philosophy, and literature--and actually understand all that I read because I am able to focus my concentration on it. I want my scholarly work output to represent my mind working at its highest capabilities. This will mean bringing my fullest concentration to one task at a time--and going against the grain of technology in our culture. My brain now being reprogrammed.
I never used Facebook much while I had it. However, I see it as a major culprit--or perhaps more a symbolic culprit--in causing the spread of "continuous partial attention" in our society. I will, at least, be existentially carving out my own sphere in which I will be taking control of the technology in my life--before the technology takes control of me. Thus, Facebook has been excised.
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