With technology’s ongoing evolution and its increasing necessity in academic settings, classrooms are often structured around online lectures and assignments.
While technology was a necessary adjustment for the pandemic and proved to be a tool that increased accessibility during quarantine, it has kept its hold on the academic environment. While it’s important not to discredit the difference that having technology in the academic environment has made, post-COVID-19 lectures should incorporate offline approaches to offer students a technology break.
“I grew up in that transitional moment,” said Anthony Webster, a professor of anthropology. “We were going from physical kinds of things to everything was online, and I just stayed with the physical kinds of things and didn’t embrace the online … There’s a tactile way that you read with a book or with an article or with a piece of paper (that) is different from looking at it on a screen or looking at it on your phone.”
The reality of technology is that students aren’t just using it during class or when doing homework. Students are on their devices all the time, which can be detrimental to their health and learning. Offline learning, including printed assignments or syllabi, can be more beneficial to students’ learning.
“There’s a value in (being) offline, and I think we sometimes confuse ourselves by thinking, since so much is online, that the world is online, but the world isn’t online, right? The world is still here in the physical space that we inhabit and we engage (with),” Webster said.
People often consider their phones and other devices their world; because technology is so ingrained into students’ day-to-day lives, a small break can be freeing. While technology creates efficiency and productivity in work and school environments, studies show that extended periods of being online can negatively impact a person’s attention span, critical thinking ability and general health.
If professors implement an offline aspect in the classroom, whether written assignments, technology-free classrooms or physical written feedback, this break can benefit students’ retention and understanding of the material.
“Less time on the screen is good for my eyes because out of class, I’m always either on my computer or on my iPad or watching videos and lectures, but it helps me at least reduce some sort of eye stream because I’m on a screen the rest of the day,” biochemistry senior Giulia Mayhua Pezo said. “But I just like pen and paper better. It’s just been easier and it just feels more natural, it helps me retain information better.”
Taking a break from technology can help your physical health, and unplugging can give you an escape from today’s pixelated world. However, the reality is that getting a technological break is difficult especially when all of your classes, entertainment, assignments and much more necessitate your computer, iPad or phone.
“When I was taking notes on my iPad, it was really easy for me to get distracted, because if I got a notification that my friend was texting me, I would want to reply to it immediately,” Mayhua Pezo said. “I think that’s also one of the reasons why I turned to writing in my notebook because (without) those distractions in the classroom, I can concentrate and comprehend the material better.”
Going offline can be advantageous to students’ learning; however, because it is so ingrained into the academic world, it can be hard to take a break. This means it is often in the professor’s hands to offer offline avenues that can benefit everyone involved.
Rail is an English, anthropology and rhetoric and writing junior from El Paso, Texas.
