One of the most problematic effects of students' constant connection is distraction. When they spend all day hopping from one website to the next, from smartphone to laptop, from Facebook to Twitter, their ability to stay focused decreases dramatically. "The more you play the piano, the better you'll get at playing the piano," Eells notes. "The more you practice diverting your attention, the less focused you're going to be." Indeed, between computers and smartphones, some students are plugged in nearly all their waking hours. "I feel like I'm a little too connected," admits Lopez. "Sometimes I'd like to be disconnected. I want to disable Facebook on my BlackBerry, because notifications come right to my phone as soon as someone comments on a picture or something. And as soon as I get a notification, I have to check it out, and then I end up wasting hours on Facebook."
Perosio notes that many of her students seem to be connected constantly—even, she laments, during class. "It's hard for students to go fifty minutes without checking their phones," she says. Some professors have banned laptops to guard against the likelihood that students are checking Facebook instead of taking notes. But since most students have an easily concealed phone, it's an uphill battle. Then there's the fact that students assume that everyone else is as connected as they are. "Students expect 24/7 availability," says Kate McCullough, a professor of feminist, gender, and sexuality studies. "I have to make a big deal about announcing in class that I only get on e-mail once a day, and sometimes on the weekends I don't get on at all, because I have three small kids."
The bottom line, says Eells, is that too much connectivity can hinder personal development at a time when students are segueing from adolescence to adulthood. "In psychology," he notes, "a hallmark of maturity is the ability to delay gratification." While technology is a wonderful tool, he says, it will never replace the life experience that comes with the college years. "One of the great things about going to office hours is the conversation you have with professors, and not necessarily about academics," he says. "Technology robs us of opportunities for serendipity, for all kinds of things that are unplanned. If you're on your cell phone or texting when you're walking across the quad, you don't know what you're missing."
Former CAM intern Adrienne Zable '11 is an American studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences.