The Electronic Pacifier

Pacifiers were originally intended to keep babies quiet between feedings.  At some point, however, parents were warned by their doctors to ween the baby off of the pacifier and the bottle so that they may begin to eat solid food and wouldn't suffer from buck teeth.  I remember when my little brother dropped his bottle out of the back window, never to be seen again.  Nobody ever mentioned a bottle after that and by that time, he had been done sucking on a pacifier.  Today, the pacifier is back in the form of electronic gadgets, and nobody is taking them away.

 

I am a former English teacher and I am currently an Academic Advisor at a reputable University.  What I am seeing scares me; students who are less than attentive due to prolonged pacifier usage (Cellphones and other electronic gadgets). Young adults sit before me with the inability to focus on what I am saying.  What I am saying, by the way, is a repeat of what the student has already heard during their orientation.  Unfortunately, a few students admit that during their online orientation, they are either scrolling, watching a movie, or simply doing something on their electronic pacifier in lieu of focusing 100% on the information being presented.  Which explains why they are struggling to listen to me as they sit face to face in my office.  I notice that students struggle to keep their eyes on me, because they are so busy looking down at their phones.  One student met with me to go over a form that his teacher instructed him to complete and email to my address, then make an appointment to meet with me to go over the form.  When he arrived,  I asked, how may I help you?"

 

"I am here to go over the form that my teacher set as a requirement for my grade."

 

"Great! We do have a problem, however."

 

"What's that?"

 

"I have checked my emails for your form, and it is not there."

 

"What form?  Oh, was I supposed to email it to you?"

 

I take great pleasure in pulling out a copy of the form to show the student the directions that are listed on the very top of the form.

Once they read the directions, reality hits them right between the eyes. 

 

"Oh, I guess I didn't read the instructions."

 

"But, your teacher discussed this with you and sent you an email explaining the assignment and the location of the form.  Didn't you receive it?"

 

"Well, to be honest with you, students are not accustomed to reading emails; too much information.  We are used to quick bursts of information like on TiK TOC and Instagram."

 

My only response was, "wow, that is so sad.  Now that you're in college, you had better get use to reading your emails.  All of them."

 

The student laughed and walked out promising to reschedule.

 

I am also noticing students who miss vital information such as deadlines simply because they didn't pay attention to the instructions given to them during orientation.   One student was in a panic, because he allowed several deadlines to pass by although he knew that he was struggling in a particular class.  Ten days had passed when he realized that it was too late to drop.  Panic set in and he attempted to make his problem everybody elses problem.  He sought out an exception to the rule, understanding, and someone more important to speak to.  Unfortunately, he could not be helped.

 

When I was a teacher, I recall hearing a young lady say to another student, "I'm afraid not to do Ms. Wilks' homework.  I was also told that my students went straight home (it was a group home) and did their homework for my class right after receiving a snack.  This is because I NEVER agreed that teachers should not give their students homework, although I had heard that some of my colleagues did not give homework since the students were not doing it anyway.  Nope! Not me!  My homework assignments were meant for review.  By mid week, my students were teamed up and playing a game such as BINGO, CONCENTRATION, THE MATCH GAME or something that helped them to work collaboratively as they continued to learn and relearn.  To hear that not giving homework to students is the norm today, breaks my heart.  To hear that students at the college level are struggling to read an entire book, because several high schools don't give their students that much work really bothers me.  They are simply pacifying students who would rather spend hours on their gadgets than get down to business.  A parent recently asked me how long should she force her 15 year old, who happens to be failing every single class only a few weeks into the semester.  I asked, "how long is he able to scroll downstairs in his room?"  She said, "hours at a time."  My reply was, "Well, we know that he has the ability to sit for an hour, so have him sit for an hour and if he does not complete at least one assignment in that time, give him a snack and another hour.  Keep adding hours as needed."

 

So what are we doing?  Creating a generation of students who are still sucking on pacifiers and drinking milk well beyond their years?  What happened to going to the library and checking out a book, smelling its pages, yearning to read a story about someone from somewhere far away?  If we don't put down those phones, and use them in moderation, and stop creating new rules that help to dummy-down students, we are gonna be in for a rude awakening as ZOMBIES roam the streets looking down at their phones.  Imagine a generation of people working in nursing homes, multi-tasking while caring for the elderly.  Or caregivers working in someone's home too busy to feed an ailing patient because they don't lift their head from their gadget to check the time.  

 

My granddaughters finally came to visit me after over a year (they live 10 minutes away) and I found it disgusting that they were watching the Disney channel and simultaeneously looking down on their phones.  As I sat with them watching the Disney movie, I ask them a very serious question:  

 

"Sooo are we watching TV or playing on the phone?  Which one?

 

"Oh, we use the TV as background noise."

 

Because I laid down the law and asked them to put down their phones (this is exactly why they don't visit me) and either talk to me or watch the movie with me, they have not mentioned visiting again.  I guess I lose.  Whatever.  This is the craziest genertion of youth that I have ever witnessed.