One of the main functions of school is to help children develop their thinking skills. One of the challenges that face us now is the rise of the distracting device. We are now in a time when we have a whole generation of children who crave distraction and are having difficulty spending moments without the shallow escape that devices provide. For most of human history, people have spent a great deal of time alone with their thoughts. Many would argue that these undistracted moments when thoughts are free to wander are hugely productive times and, potentially, very creative for us. One of the things you have probably noticed when people are idle now, whether they are sitting on a bus or in a cafe, a device of some type will be in their hand and their complete attention is on the mysterious screen. Sadly, this can often also be the case when they are with someone. I guess we have all noticed this and it is interesting to think about the effects that it has on the ongoing development of our brains, particularly when we think of children. As we have seen with the adults and their devices, it is never too late to form a bad habit, yet more importantly, we can’t help but wonder about the long term effects of constant distraction on a child’s developing brain.
With a cell phone within easy reach, with reliable networks so easily accessible wherever you are and extended battery lives, there is really no reason why nowadays anyone would be forced to sit down and merely think. We have a distraction at our fingertips. It is not that there are no uses that require higher-order thinking or great deals of creativity but the reality of social media and scrolling interactions is that we are being distracted by a very shallow and narrow set of thought patterns. One of the effects of this is that children are less and less able to deal with undistracted time alone with their own thoughts. They experience this as boredom and have not been given the opportunities necessary to develop the ability to entertain themselves.
No one is really certain what this looks like in terms of cognitive development, but we do know that the brain is operating in a different way, different than at any time in human history. What we do know is that we have less time to let our minds wander and process the thoughts that are constantly flowing through our minds. The distraction that the electronic device offers us allows us to escape these thoughts and it is the excessive nature of this escape that should be a worry to any parent, not the device itself. We do know in terms of general health that balance is always important. For those of you with young children, the accessibility of devices is very different than it was ten years ago and if you think of the next 10 years of your child’s life, how different again will it become? I would say that one of the greatest challenges for you as a parent is the fight to maintain balance in your child’s life as every moment on the device has a price. If you are sitting down at the table and hand your child an iPad, the price you pay for those few minutes of peace is a conversation with your child that you will never ever be able to have again. Likewise, if you are riding in the Shinkansen and you hand your child a phone, the price you pay for those minutes of quiet is a world of wonder not seen by your child through the window and the conversations that you could have had about that amazing world passing you by.
All electronic devices offer great opportunities for us to communicate and access a world of knowledge, which is great. However, I would offer I word of caution to parents: Think of balance. Be careful of missed opportunities. Remember that the ability to just sit and think is a wondrous thing that needs practice.
電子機器の利用
国際バカロレア教育は、子供の考える力を育てることに重きを置いているのですが、われわれが今直面している問題に、電子機器使用の増加があります。あらゆる年齢の子供たちが、簡単な気晴らしを欲しがり、電子機器なしでは時間を潰せなくなっているのです。今までは、考えをめぐらすことだけで多くの時間を費やしていたものです。自由に考えをめぐらすことはとても生産的な時間であり、潜在的には大変創造的な時間だと思います。最近よく見かけるのが、バスに乗っている時、カフェにいる時などに、電子機器を手にし、スクリーンにくぎ付けになっている人たちです。友達と一緒にいる時でも同様のケースを目にするのは悲しいことです。このような光景にみなさんもお気づきだと思います。
どこにいても簡単にネットワークにアクセスでき、すぐ手の届く所に携帯電話がある状況で、じっくり腰を落ち着けて考えを巡らす理由はないのです。じっくり考え、創造するのに、電話は役に立たないとは言いませんが、ソーシャルメディアの現実は、画面をスクロールするだけで、限られた思考パターンによって時間つぶしをしていることになるのです。結果として、子供たちが考えをめぐらす時間がどんどん少なくなっています。ただ考えをめぐらすということを退屈な時間と子供たちは感じ、何もすることがない時に自分で楽しみを見つけるといった必要な機会を与えられることがなくなってきているのです。
自分の考えをさまよわせ、自分の中で考えを発展させる時間がどんどん少なくなっているのは確かです。電子機器が与えてくれる気晴らしにより、考えることから離れていっています。10年前と今とでは、電子機器への身近さがまったく違います。これから10年後、子供たちの生活は今とどのように違っているのでしょうか。親としてのこれからのチャレンジは、子供の生活において、どのようにバランスを保っていくかを模索し続けることだと思います。子供にiPadを手渡すとします。あなたが犠牲にする数分は、二度と与えられない子供との会話の時間かもしれません。同様に、新幹線に乗っている時、子供にスマートフォンを手渡すと得られる静かな時間に対して、窓からみえる景色について子供と語り合う貴重な機会を犠牲にすることになるかもしれません。
電子機器は、コミュニケーションや簡単に情報を入手する手段としては大変役にたちます。しかし、バランスを考え、貴重な機会を失わないよう、そして、ただ座って考える時間がどんなにすばらしいことで、それを習慣づけることが必要なことを忘れないようにしましょう。