A Culture of Distraction

At the commencement of 2016 teaching staff engaged in a professional development exercise where they analysed students' individual perspectives on learning, which were captured on video in 2015.

A clear generational difference emerged in the research; we now have within our classrooms, a generation who cannot remember life without the Internet.

Previously, we were able to reminisce about the use of encyclopedias and the frustration when another student had the letter you needed to use; we can remember when you needed to reserve a book in the library only to return weeks later when it was your turn to read it. The reality is, that all of our students forever more will have the 'internet of everything'.

The concept of the 'internet of everything' is when access to the Internet has permeated all aspects of our lives until it becomes an assumption that it will just be there.

Let me say from the outset, that the culture of distraction is a P-12 problem, not one that resides in the Senior School alone.

This message to our community is not to highlight the negatives of this, rather to illustrate the knowledge we need to possess to ensure we maintain a positive balance in the lives of our boys.

I believe that we live in a culture of distraction. Furthermore, at times, that distraction can have a negative affect on learning. We are seeing a steady rise in what only can be deemed an addiction to gaming, streaming of live content and passive Internet use, that is, receiving information rather than creating it.

Unfortunately, distraction is a worsening condition, the more distracted we are, the more distractible we become. As stated by American author, Ed Schlossberg, 'Paying attention to anything will be the missing commodity in the future life. You will think you'll miss nothing, but you'll probably miss everything.'

The College is committed to working with our community to ensure that our students have the ability of self-control when it comes to their Internet usage. It would be a simplistic answer to block all content of this nature; as fast as we can block the content, new content is created or a way around the block is established. We also do not want to teach students to swim by not letting them in the pool; the reality is that in our goal to prepare boys for life, we need to ensure that we equip our students with the ability of self-control beyond Year 12. The culture of distraction is also not one that belongs only to Scotch College; it is a problem within society, for adults as much as our children.

A first step is to raise awareness of the problem regarding distraction; we need to educate our boys, both at school and at home with the help of our community. In a multi-billion dollar industry, which uses similar methods to gambling to attract and retain users, the gaming world is a powerful distraction.

The message is not to stop students engaging in the hobby of gaming. Far from it, the message is to speak to your son regarding the perils of becoming addicted to gaming to the detriment of his studies. Unfortunately, this can occur from a very young age with games designed from the moment a thumb can swipe an iPhone.

In 2016, we shall be providing more information regarding the culture of distraction and working with families to ensure they are supported to achieve a sensible balance. If families feel that they already need to alert our teachers of a possible distraction, it would be great to openly communicate that with the staff at the College as a first step.

Mr Peter Allen

Director of Teaching and Learning