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“One night, my 3-year-old asked me if she could sleep in my bed. I told her no. She said, “That’s not fair! Why does Daddy get to sleep in your bed?” READ MORE
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My family recently took a day trip from our home in the Inland Empire to San Juan Capistrano to tour the mission. It was an hour's drive, so we asked our 6-year-old son if he wanted to pass the time in the car playing with his Leapster electronic game. My husband and I restrict his playtime with the hand-held game to short periods at home and car rides of more than 30 minutes. Our son jumped at the chance to bring along his Leapster and its five interchangeable game cartridges. But on this particular day, the game sat idle in the back seat; my son didn't touch it. He gazed out the window as we drove the Ortega Highway. When I asked why he wasn't playing with it, he simply said, "I don't want to." Clearly, the gadget's appeal had vanished. I had been reluctant to buy my son any hand-held electronic game for fear that once he owned one, he'd never touch a book or his bike again. My fears turned out to be totally unfounded. In this day of wrenching technology, he could be the poster boy for young people everywhere who seem to have grown bored - or perhaps complacent - with all the gadgets their middle-aged parents missed. Maybe today's youth take all the new toys for granted. After all, when was the last time an American adult was impressed by electricity? We've had it all our lives, so it's no big deal. Multi-tasking experts With personal computers in most American homes and the plethora of electronic games and gadgets on the market, today's youth are without a doubt the most entertained generation ever. Yet, a recent poll shows that despite vast choices - television, movies, the Internet, MySpace, YouTube, video games, music, computer games, cell phones, instant messaging and the rest - multi-tasking youths say they are bored. A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll released last summer found that a large majority - more than 70% of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed - said they were bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time. They did say they love their electronic devices, however, especially computers. Movies in theaters, they said, were too expensive and the films bad. Most American youngsters today multi-task with their high-tech gadgets: They do homework, watch TV, work on the computer, check email, listen to music, text-message their friends and talk on the phone - all at the same time. How well they do any one of these things remains a topic of debate. Does all this activity hurt? The jury is still out on the long-term effects of multi-tasking. There is scant long-range research about thinking and critical-analysis skills, especially when it comes to homework. Many educators, however, believe young people can't learn as much while doing homework and multi-tasking because they aren't engaging in any deep, reflective thinking or focusing on any one thing. Indeed, the Los Angeles Times concluded in a press release issued with its study that "homework may be the biggest casualty of the multi-tasking generation's compulsion to focus on more than one thing at a time." More than half of all respondents surveyed said multi-tasking relieves boredom; 63% of girls ages 12 to 14 said they multi-task because it's boring to do one thing at a time. Brett Harrison, a 14-year-old middle school student from Irvine, told OC Family Magazine that he multi-tasks "all the time" so he can have fun while doing homework. And, he can still concentrate on his homework. Low-quality content Many educators and researchers suspect young people may be bored with technology and entertainment choices due to poor content. It's true that there are some amusing videos on YouTube, for instance. "You have to wade through a lot of boring stuff to find it," says Robert Craven, coordinator for educational technology for the Orange County Department of Education. Furthermore, researchers say much of the back-and-forth banter in which kids partake as they email, text and instant message friends throughout the day is meaningless chatter that gets old after awhile. Instant messaging remains a hugely popular means of communication for pre-adults, especially young teens, but, "People don't have anything interesting to talk about," says Bonnie Nardi, an associate professor of informatics at UC Irvine. Nardi, who has studied the instant messaging phenomenon, points out that her 22-year-old son used to be crazy about instant messaging and would simultaneously have six conversations with friends. But she says he eventually grew out of it and no longer feels the need to be constantly connected to his friends. "The content is not truly interesting. After the novelty wears off, you have nothing. Young people want good content and they're not getting it. And they need meaningful human connection or interaction," Nardi says. UCI colleague Gloria Mark, an associate professor of informatics who studies interactions between people and computers, agrees that poor content fuels boredom. "Maybe kids are bored because the content that's offered to them is beneath their intellectual capacity. Give kids something to think about and take away with them, and they would be more fulfilled." Mark's two daughters, ages 12 and 14, have been raised without television and don't currently have cell phones. The girls prefer watching older films like Henry Fonda's "Twelve Angry Men" and Alfred Hitchcock movies. Their mother believes parents and educators should offer children more intelligent entertainment choices. "Kids can be exposed to quality fiction and films, and they can tell us what is good quality," Gloria Mark says. Daughter Michaela Kobsa-Mark, 14, says that without the option of watching TV, she has more time for other pastimes like reading books and "being with friends without worrying about missing a show." As for movies, the most meaningful new film Michaela says she's seen is "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming. "Not impressed" It could be that "bored" is the wrong term to describe what young people feel about new technology and electronic gadgets. "Not impressed" is a better description, says Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC's Annenberg School For Communication. The center is a research and policy institute that examines the social impact of the Internet and new technology. "We don't see teens as bored. They're unimpressed that this (technology) is nothing special. Nobody's told them this is special," Cole says, noting that youth today have grown up with wide access to computers, cell phones and other electronic gadgets. "They don't know it any other way." In a similar fashion, middle-aged adults take for granted the innovations they've always had. Says Cole: "When was the last time you were impressed with electricity?" Brett Harrison says he can't imagine life without TV and computers. "It seems so natural. It's like life without air." The omnipresence of so much entertainment technology has a positive side, says Cole. It has empowered young people as never before to create content like blogs and videos. Young people also have more power and control over their entertainment choices than ever before. Perhaps young people today, who are accustomed to a high level of visual and auditory stimulation, have reached a saturation point, says Newport Beach family therapist Michael Webb. Robert Craven of the OCDE believes it's simply part of being a teen to say you're bored. "You're looking at an age group that is always saying they're bored." It's the nature of young people to be eager to "anticipate what's next." Gloria Mark's 12-year-old daughter, Natalie Kobsa-Mark of Irvine, agrees. "People always try to find something better," she says. Brett Harrison can't understand how young people can be bored when they have so many entertainment choices. Brett believes there is something out there for everyone. "People just like to complain." Amy Bentley of Temecula is a regular contributor and managing editor of Churm Media's Southern California Home & Outdoor Magazine. |
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