No texting or tweeting or “liking.” No video games, no laptops and absolutely no Internet. So what’s a student to do?
The answer will come next week as hundreds of courageous (and perhaps anxious) students at Wyandotte High School go cold turkey on technology for three days as part of the Tech Timeout Academic Challenge.
So far, more than 400 students have signed up to take part in the challenge, which is scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, April 28-30. Many staff will be participating as well. The effort is being coordinated by Sarah Futrell, ESL English teacher, and Julie Jackson, student teacher.
“Some of our students think this is going to be easy for them, but a lot of them think it’s going to be difficult,” Jackson said. “Overall, I would say they are excited about the challenge.”
The challenge addresses a growing concern about young people’s reliance on digital devices for communication and their impact on family well-being. Jackson said many students experience something called “fear of missing out” as they receive up-to-the-minute status reports from everyone in their social network. The hope is that students will realize how much of their time is taken up by digital devices, and they will begin to see the benefits of face-to-face interaction with others.
The school will create videotaped confessionals to document pre and post experiences of the students. Some of these will be posted on YouTube and Facebook.
While only a portion of the school’s 1,400+ population has signed up for the challenge, most students will experience it in some form in their classes as teachers disallow use of laptops and other technology devices during the challenge. For those who sign up, the challenge extends beyond the school day; they will be asked to go without technology from the beginning of the school day on Monday, until the beginning of the school day on Thursday.
“Many students are wondering how it will be tracked at home, but they will be on the honor system,” Jackson said. “There are no consequences if they don’t make it. We just want them to learn from their experiences. And it will be interesting to see what breaks those who don’t make it – will it be texting, a video game?”
There is no cost for the program, but the school is working to raise money to buy T-shirts for all the participants. A T-shirt design contest is in the works and the plan is to raise $1,000 to purchase 500 shirts. Donations are welcome and can be made online at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/70771315/tech-timeout-t-shirts/backers.
– Story from Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools