Helping Fight Obsession with a “Tech Break”

In his upcoming book, iDisorder, psychologist Larry Rosen argues that all our tech gadgets and applications are turning us into basket-cases suffering from versions of obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention-deficit syndrome. So, what can we do about it? Rosen also has some suggestions and some of them are counterintuitive. Instead of resisting the urge to text, check Facebook, or watch a YouTube video, Rosen says just do it. That’s right: Cure the tech disorder with a dose of more technology!

Rosen calls it a tech break. But rather than taking a break from technology, you give yourself permission to embrace technology for a particular amount of time, be it one minute or 15.  He claims that it works amazingly well.

Here’s why: If your brain keeps thinking about a text message you need to return, it’s better to send that text to get the nagging impulse out of your head. Once you stop thinking about sending that text, then you’ve literally freed up space in your brain to focus on more important things, like solving the global energy crisis or creating world peace, or just getting that research paper done.

The trick is to be disciplined and only take tech breaks at predefined intervals. One example would be to work hard for 10 minutes, and then allow yourself one minute to check email. For a child doing homework, Rosen suggests rewarding the child with 15 minutes of tech time for each half-hour of focused study. Rosen advises giving the child an option of spending the 15 minutes immediately or accumulating it for later use. After all, you need more than 15 minutes to get into a good video game.

Rosen’s theory has interesting implications for schools. Would kids be more focused and productive if teachers told students to take their cell phones out of their lockers and check their texts in the middle of every class?

College Students and Cell Phones

A new study from Infographic finds that cellphones are shaping the lives of college students more than ever. It should be no surprise that 94% of the students surveyed text message every day, but 60% admitted to feeling physically addicted to their phones. How many students are paying their own cellphone bill? Only 25%. There are sure to be some real parallels to high school students (and younger) and how they feel about their phones. After reading a survey it begs the question of why K-12 schools continue to ban phones instead of putting them to work in the classroom?