From Distraction to Addiction? GUD Alberta Phase II (2018)

Read the latest updates and key findings from the world's largest research study on technology, health and learning (with a short summary of Phase I results).

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To better understand the scope of physical, mental and social consequences of digital technologies in areas such as exercise, homework, identity formation, distraction, cognition, learning, technology compulsions, nutrition and sleep habits, researchers from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, the University of Alberta, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School have been working on a long-term collaborative initiative entitled Growing Up Digital (GUD) Alberta.

Listen
CBC Radio Interview on the Project (2018)

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The first phase of the GUD Alberta research initiative, conducted in 2016, explored teachers’ and principals’ perspectives around technology, health and learning, and highlighted the paradox of technology both enhancing and distracting learning.

The second phase of GUD Alberta engaged more than 3,500 Alberta parents and grandparents with detailed questions about the impact of technology on their own children and grandchildren. This survey, completed this year, represents the largest sample in North America, and perhaps the world, on parent and grandparent perspectives around technology, health and learning.

The third phase (2018/2019) will directly involve Alberta students across the province between the ages of 12 and 17 and attempt to better understand the impact of emerging technologies as it relates to their knowledge, lifestyles, learning and overall health and wellbeing using an innovative research method developed at Harvard School of Public Health by Dr. Michael Rich called “Measurement of Youth Media Exposure and Health Outcomes” (MYME). Here students will receive a random signal via smartphone and be asked to complete daily surveys, a 15-second video of their surroundings, and twice a week complete a time-use diary of their daily use of media related activities and how much time they spent that day participating in each activity.

To find out in more detail regarding what we are learning from Phases I and II, you can find infographics from the GUD Alberta research completed to date, along with keynote presentation videos, research powerpoints and a variety of other Association resources at Promise and Peril Research Index.

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Phases I (2016) Key Findings
Phase I, completed in 2016, gathered a stratified random sample of 2,200 teachers and principals from across Alberta who identify baseline issues and essential research questions. The data from Phase I clearly shows that teachers and principals in Alberta hold strong perspectives around the impact of digital technologies on children and youth’s health, development and learning.

Overall, teachers report that digital technologies enhance their teaching and learning activities, with inquiry-based learning (71%) being the area of greatest enrichment. However, when surveyed on issues related to health and well-being outcomes, Alberta teachers indicated that there has been a dramatic change in their student populations over the past 3 to 5 years. Of particular note is the “somewhat” and “significant” increase in the number of students who demonstrate the following exceptionalities: emotional challenges (90%), social challenges (86%), behaviour support (85%) and cognitive challenges (77%). This data clearly illustrates a dramatic change in the complexity of the student population in Alberta.

In terms of media use, 76% of teachers “frequently” and “very frequently” observed students multitasking with digital technologies. Of particular note is that a majority (67%) of teachers from this stratified random sample believe that digital technologies are a growing distraction in the learning environment. Those who believe students are negatively distracted by technology state the degree as “very many” (48%) and “almost all” (11%) students. Further, when asked to reflect on their personal use of digital technologies, 62% of teachers feel that they themselves are also “somewhat” (75%) or to a “great extent” (14%) negatively distracted.

Generally teachers and principals perceive that Alberta students’ readiness to learn has been in steady decline. There is a strong sense among a majority of teaching professionals within this sample that over the past 3-5 years students across all grades are increasingly having a more difficult time focusing on educational tasks (76%), are coming to school tired (66%), and are less able to bounce back from adversity (ie lacking resilience) (62%). Concurrent to this, 44% of teachers note a decrease in student empathy, and over half of the sample (56%), reported an increase in the number of students who have discussed with them incidents of online harassment and/or cyberbullying.

When asked how the number of students with “diagnosed” health issues has changed in their classrooms, the following three conditions were reported by a majority of teachers to have increased: anxiety disorders (85%), Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (75%), and mood disorders such as depression (73%).
While many complex forces will be shaping these student health outcomes, the extent to which technology is one of them is of significant interest to the survey participants. Below are some representative samples of the several thousand questions and comments submitted to this survey.

ALBERTA TEACHER QUOTES:
“Is technology having a negative effect on life balance for students? Is time that should be spent socializing, in activity, reading, sleeping etc. reduced as students increase screen time? Is there a relationship between screen time and student social capacity?”

“Is brain activity and cognitive functioning enhanced, decreased or neutral when digital technology is used? And does this vary by the age of the child?”

“In my role as a high school admin [principal], I see how many kids are ‘ruled’ by their use of technology. I also see how technology is used for bullying purposes regularly. If this is our reality, then why is the push for technology in schools increasing? How do we adequately support kids who are addicted to technology to the point where it rules their lives?”

“Are digital technologies contributing to students' inability to focus for long periods of time?” “Do you believe that using technology is addictive?”

“Do children have more difficulty playing and interacting than they did before?”

“To what extent are parents monitoring student use of technology? At what age did students begin using technology in the home?”

“Is a student's increasing online presence decreasing real world satisfaction and positive peer-to peer interaction?”

“I am concerned about children's growing deficits in understanding non-verbal communication cues during in-person conversations.”

“Do personal electronic devices prevent normal development of social skills (including resiliency)?”

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Phases II (2018)
This phase of the research was designed to investigate within the home environment perceptions from Alberta parents, guardians and grandparents the scope of physical, mental and social consequences of digital technologies on children and youth. Also in this survey was a benchmark of how parents perceive the impact of digital technologies on their children’s reading, speaking, math, social skills, behaviour, emotional health, and levels of anxiety.
This research assessed the impact of digital technologies on learning and parenting practices at home and further informed the patterns already identified in GUD research Phase I that explored changes in classrooms and school communities over the past 3 to 5 years (enhancing/distracting; connecting/disconnecting).
Some of the highlights from this new 2018 GUD Alberta research related specifically to perceptions of distraction and digital addiction are below.

Technology Use at Home
- 85% of parents believe that technology makes it easier to stay in touch with friends and family.
- 62% of parents feel negatively distracted by digital technologies, and three quarters of them recognize that their technology habits influence those of their children.
- 45% of parents report that their children have a mobile device with them everynight after bed time; 41% of parents state their children never do.  These data show the polarization in terms of whether children have their phones with them at night (nocturnal screen time).
- 60% of parents in this survey indicate that their child’s use of digital technologies has a mostly negative impact on physical activity; 37% suggest it has a negative impact on emotional health; 30% suggest it has a negative impact on anxiety

ALBERTA PARENT QUOTE: “Digital technology is a wonderful asset to the world today but, like a lot of things, too much of it can impact the health and welfare of [present] and future generations.”

In the Classroom
- 26% of parents believe their child’s use of technology at school is “too much”, with 68% of parents feeling the amount of time their children are using digital technology at school is “about right”.
-39% of parents indicate that their child’s use of digital technologies has a mostly positive impact on reading skills; 37% suggest it has a positive effect on math skills.

Digital Distraction to Digital Addiction?
- 30% of parents feel "addicted" to their own digital technologies with social media as the area of greatest dependence.
- 22% of parents believe their child is addicted to digital technology with video and video games being the areas of greatest dependence; 11% are unsure.
While the grandparents represented a smaller subset of the respondents (500+), their responses were very similar to those of parents, but reported greater concerns about what they perceive is happening to their grandchildren.  For example, 36% of the grandparents in this study feel their grandchild is "addicted" to digital technologies.  The grandparents are especially concerned about the social/emotional impacts and the impacts on how their grandchildren are learning to socialize with others.