The Challenge of Teaching the Tik-Tok Generation
I’ve been teaching for a long time. I just finished up my 26th year in education, primarily with middle schoolers (I have taught 5th, 6th, and 7th grades across the years). It was one of the hardest years I have ever had, if not the most difficult. Since the pandemic and Spring of 2020, education has changed drastically. Having access to the internet and devices was helpful while we were e-learning, but it also began giving our children way too much dependence on screens and internet-based information consumption. And once you go there, it’s hard to go back.
This past school year I had more students who exhibited ADHD-like behavior, particularly when working on their iPads, than I have ever seen before. It’s been building for the last few years. Yes, some of them are truly diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but most of them have a learned inability to stay focused on something for more than about 12-15 seconds. As a Language Arts teacher, it’s devastating. The primary skills I am supposed to teach my students are reading and writing, which require sustained attention and stamina. But many students just cannot focus, and therefore, they are suffering academically. If something does not change, this will eventually spill over into their teenage years and adulthood, and it terrifies me to think that we may have drivers, doctors, and pilots who are so easily distracted with the inability to sustain focus on something important like driving, performing surgeries, or flying a plane.
And here’s what I believe to be the culprit… Tik Tok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and the like are training our children’s brains to focus for just a few seconds and then move on. The endless scrolling and swiping teaches them that if something isn’t entertaining, they can just move onto the next thing. And have you watched some of the shows and YouTube videos being pushed at our children? Many are so loud and overstimulating. Do an experiment of your own and watch a children’s show that was produced 10-15 years ago and notice a DRASTIC difference in the pacing. Children need more time for their brains to process information, but when things come at them at such a quick pace, they become desensitized to noticing details, interpreting meaning, and thinking deeply. While our students have become great consumers of content, it doesn’t mean they are learning anything….that information often goes in one ear (or eye) and out the other. Much of education cannot be learned in a few seconds, and unfortunately, some necessary tasks are just not entertaining. (Believe me, I have TRIED to make independent and dependent clauses and compound-complex sentences quick, easy, and entertaining for years, and it’s just not possible!) There are things that students need to learn how to do that take sustained time and effort, like reading, writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
So what do schools do about this? Honestly, I don’t know. There’s not much schools and teachers can do. It’s like Pandora’s box has been opened, and closing it now is not an option. We can limit screen time and go back to some of the more “old school” methods of instruction. We can make sure our students are given time for sustained reading and writing. We can provide opportunities for creating vs. consuming. I learned at a recent technology conference I attended that “the opposite of addiction is connection,” so we can create more opportunities for our children to connect, collaborate, and create instead of being glued to a screen. But we can only do so much when we see our students for a few hours a day.
The most important influence is parenting.
Parents, your children do not need cell phones. Yes, your children will bug you for them. Yes, it’s more convenient to give in to stop their whining. But we survived without them just fine! Quit the excuse: ”What if something happens at school and they need to reach me?” The school has phones. Teachers have phones. Children do not need their own phones. In fact, if all students were to use their phones during a school emergency, it would most likely clog up the lines and prevent school officials and law enforcement from being able to act swiftly. In addition, cell phones are like little handheld portals to cyberbullying, sextortion, and a lot of other dangers that our children cannot and should not be expected to handle at such a young age. And if/when they get one (once they begin driving would be my recommendation), they do not need access to social media…not just because of the dangers it poses, but because they do not need to learn the skill of mindless scrolling. Their brains are not fully developed yet (and won’t be until they’re well into their 20s). Check out Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation for more information about how cell phones are impacting the mental health of our children.
Parents, limit screen time for your children! Even if the school provides your child with access to a one-to-one device, monitor its use when they are at home! Many of the filters placed on the devices by schools do not work at home, so monitor what your children have access to. Give them time limits. Use screen time settings, content restrictions, and web filters. Don’t let them become addicted to YouTube shorts, Tik Toks, and reels. And SET AN EXAMPLE! Your actions will speak louder than words.
Make sure your children have sustained reading time with actual BOOKS, not just on screens or audio. I always preach to my students that if they’re listening to an audio book, they should also have the physical book there to read along with. That’s what actually develops better READING skills, as the students hear a fluent reader at the same time that they are seeing the words being read. And there’s something so fulfilling about turning the pages of a book and eventually getting to the end, which is something e-books don’t provide.
Give your children time to write, with a pencil, not a keyboard. One of the best strategies to learn something, especially for kinesthetic learners, is to write it down. By hand. The simple act of writing causes connections to be made in the brain that typing does not create (See the article “Writing by hand may increase brain connectivity more than typing…” by Aria Bendix of NBC News.)
Let your children be bored. Boredom fosters creativity. Let them think, play, invent games, and create without screens. Send them outside for exercise and vitamin D (Did you know there’s an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency in our children? They are not getting outside enough!). Let them dream.
And just so you know, I’m not just a teacher…I’m a mom. All of the suggestions above are things I am working on with my own family (I have a husband and 2 young sons who are avid gamers and YouTube watchers), and it’s not easy. According to a study published in European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes an average of 66 days for most people to break or create a new habit, with a range from 18 to 254 days. Let that sink in! New habits aren’t born in a week. You have to be diligent and consistent. And it will be painful, for you and your students/children. But it WILL be worth it. Our children are worth it.
Kimberly Cauble is a veteran middle school teacher with 26+ years of teaching in SC public schools. She has used technology with her students (one-to-one with iPads) for over 14 years and was implementing the use of technology in the classroom well before one-to-one devices were established. (You could say she was a technology pioneer in her school district!) She has taught workshops to other teachers on various technologies and strategies, such as using GPS devices and geocaching, photography, and making the most of AI tools in the ELA classroom. She is married to a husband who works in technology and is an avid gamer, and she has two sons (2nd and 5th grade) who are obsessed with gaming, YouTube, and Skibbidi Toilet. So she gets it.
Please share your experiences or leave comments below!