Should Students Participate In Shutdown Your Screen Week?

I agree with the idea to have the students participate in shutdown your screen week. Studies at the University of Stanford show that people who juggle work and social media get less work done because of electronic devices. In the Campbell family (San Francisco), each member has their own devices, and all of their screen time cuts into their family time. These two examples show how all of these devices are slowly ruining our relationships with our family. They might bring us closer to our friends with everyone constantly on social media, but devices are preventing people from spending quality time with their families. Devices may have their advantages, but they also have their drawbacks, such as causing people to get less work done and cutting into family time.

In 2004, Stanford held a test with people who were multitaskers and those who were not. Once the test was complete, they realized that the multitaskers were noticeably worse at filtering out the unimportant information. “In the modern world, the chime of an incoming email can override the goal of writing a business plan or playing catch with the children.”-The Myth of Multitasking. If you are doing your work and you get a text or an email, most likely multitaskers would
pick up their phone to see who was notifying them. The non-multitaskers would leave their phone and continue on with their work. Studies from the University of California showed that the people who checked their phone in the middle of work “reported significantly increased stress compared with those left to focus. Stress hormones have been shown to reduce short term memory...” -Gary Small, The Myth of Multitasking.

Another reason why students should participate in shutdown your screen week is because screen time cuts into family time.
An example of these is the Campbell family (San Francisco).The Campbells spend a lot of their time at home on their devices. “When she’s on it, you can holler her name all day and she won’t hear,” Mrs. Campbell says, talking about Lily (2nd grade) and her laptop. Research shows that too much screen time can be bad for young children whose brains are still developing. When the Campbell family went on a vacation, the first few days was just wasted time on their devices. On the last day, they all unplugged and spent time together on the beach. “It changes the mood of everything when everybody is present.” -Mrs.
Campbell.

Some people may say that lots of screentime is not bad, it’s actually good. They think that electronic devices are bringing us closer to people far away from us. Instead of having to take a 10 hour flight to visit relatives in England, they are now only one phone call away. “Because of cellphones and social media, those we depend on are more accessible today than at any point since we lived in small, village-like settlements.” -Matthew Brashears. I disagree with this. Matthew Brashears also says that “there are fewer intimate relationships today than 20 years ago.” Devices may bring us closer to some people, but they also bring us farther away from others. Phones can bring you closer to your friends from camp that you may never talk to again, but they take away time that you could be spending with your family or your really close friends.

I think that our school should participate in shut down your screen week because it allows students to work harder and be more focused. Devices are causing people to get less work done, and so if we all participated in shut down your screen week, we would focus more and get more work done. It also lets us spend more time with our family and close friends free from distraction. Some people think that phones and other devices bring us closer to the people who live far away, but devices actually cut into time that should be spent with family and close friends. Devices may have their advantages, but they also have their drawbacks, such as causing people to get less work done and cutting into family time.