ARY

LITERCTION
I
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NON ory that uses

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a true erary style
lit

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YOU

COULD RUIN

CHRISToPHER B. SHORT

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OU
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4 Scholastic Scope MARCH 2015

Nonfiction

ONE
H
P

UIN

E
F
LI
R
(if you let it)
BY KRISTIN LEWIS

scope.scholastic.com MARCH 2015

generation uses technology. And

How do phones affect your life?

they dont mean it in a good way.

t was early Halloween morning, and 15-year-old

Christina Morris-Ward was walking to school
in her hometown in Maryland. It was a trip
she made every day. And there was nothing
unusual about this particular morning.
Then the unthinkable happened.

Christina stepped into the

crosswalk and was struck by a car.
She later died at the hospital.
Then there was the 16-year-old

A New World
The world today is very different
from the one your parents grew
up in. Twenty-five years ago, cell
phones were as big as a size-10
shoe and used mainly by spies
and millionaires. If you
needed to call your mom

people like you.

Christina
Morris-Ward

You are at high risk

for distraction-related

because band practice was

canceled, you had to find
a payphone (and hope you

accidents, like what

had a quarter to put in the slot).

boy in New York who walked into a

happened to Christina, and the

If there was no payphone, you sat

telephone pole with such force that

constant presence of technology in

and waited for your mom, even

he suffered a concussion. In Ohio,

your life is causing other problems

if it was pouring rain. To get the

a 14-year-old boy was walking

too. Technology makes it harder

photographs from your birthday

across a bridge when he fell off,

for you to focus and get your work

party, you took the film from your

plummeting 8 feet into a rocky

done. Its crippling your creativity.

camera to the drugstore and waited

ditch. He sustained serious chest

Some say that the future will be

a week for prints to be developed.

and shoulder injuries.

shapedis being shaped right

To watch your favorite show, you

now, in factby the way your

sat down at the one time during

What do these accidents have

in common? They were all caused

the week when it was broadcast

by the same thing. It wasnt a

on TV. If you missed it, too bad.

disease. Or a criminal. Or even

Finding out when your favorite

simple clumsiness.

singer was born meant going to the

It was a smartphone.

library to look it up in a book

At the times of the

or magazine.

accidents, all three kids were

Who could have

using their phones. They were

imagined that one day

too distracted to notice the

there would be a palm-

oncoming car, the pole just ahead,

or the edge of the bridge.
Alarmingly, the number of these
types of phone-related accidents
is on the rise. Even more alarming,
they are only one part of a major
public-health problem experts are
calling digital distraction.
It affects all of us, but experts
are especially worried about young

58

of pedestrian
deaths are kids under
age 19. Experts believe
these tragedies are mainly
due to digital distraction.
Safe Kids Worldwide, October 2014

6 Scholastic Scope MARCH 2015

sized device that you

could use to call home, take
pictures, watch TV shows, and
access information?
Few people would deny that
life today is more convenient,
information-rich, and connected
than its been at any point in
human history. If youre stranded
in the rain, all you have to do is

Getty Images/iStockPhoto.com (Ambulance); courtesy of Gwen Ward (Christina Morris-Ward)

AS YOU READ,
THINK ABOUT:

amount of information

your full attention for seven hours

suddenly available to anyone

straight and then turned them all

who could read. In the 1930s,

off, that would be one thing. But

kids were listening to music

thats not whats happening.

on their radios while doing

homework, inciting panic that

your phone is constantly calling

they wouldnt learn a thing.

for your attention while you are

In recent years, its been

1 in 3

supposed to be doing other things.

more of the same. Just look at

Youre walking down the street,

the headlines: Is Google Making

but youre also watching a Vine

Us Stupid? (The Atlantic); Is

video. Youre doing homework,

people cross
busy streetS

Facebook Making Us Lonely?

but hey, why not quickly check

(The Atlantic); Are Smartphones

the latest NBA rankings? Youre

while using their phones.

Making Us Dumber? (Forbes

studying your Spanish verbs, but

BrandVoice).

awwww! Look at how your cat is

Injury Prevention, November 2012

Are these fears just jitters about

text your mom to come rescue you.
So whats the problem?

History of Panic
Every era of technological

You take a quick picture and post

are saying no, that todays tech

it to Instagram. Sometimes you

is significantly different than the

forget all about what you were

technology of the past.

supposed to be doing because that

Why?

criticism. In ancient Greece, the

YouTube video is so hilarious, you

want to watch it again and again.

Homework Takes Too Long

The answer lies in how much

philosopher Socrates hated the

just sitting there staring at you!

a changing world? Many experts

change has triggered panicand

Getty Images/iStockPhoto.com (Walk Sign); Kim Gunkel/Getty Images (Sleeping Boy)

Whats happening is that

(By the way, you were supposed to

be taking out the trash.)

act of writing things down. He

time most of us (not just young

was certain people would lose

people) are spending staring at

the ability to remember facts and

screens. The average teenager

carry on informed conversations.

spends more than seven hours

There were similar fears after the

a day looking at a phone, tablet,

interacting with your devices

invention of the printing press in

laptop, or TV. But the problem

floods your brain with a feel-good

the 15th century made it possible to

is more complex than just the

chemical called dopamine.

mass-produce books. Surely, some

amount of time spent with

Its the same chemical

said, the human mind wouldnt be

technology. If you gave your

able to handle the overwhelming

screens

80

So why dont you just ignore all

these digital interruptions?
Your brain wont let you.
The pleasure you get from

of teenagers
sleep with their
phones nearby.

Pew Research Center, April 2010

scope.scholastic.com MARCH 2015

53
HOURS

amount
of time
the average
teenager spends
in front of a
screen per week

Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2010

an apple fall from a tree. Albert

Einsteins most famous theories
are said to have come from a
daydream he had about riding
a sunbeam to the edge of the
universe.
But who sits and stares out the
window anymore when theres
Instagram to click through or

that gets released when you eat

a leading neuroscientist from the

ESPN to check? When was the

a piece of delicious chocolate

University of Utah and an expert

last time you were bored for more

cake. Dopamine makes it difficult

in attention and distraction,

than a few minutes? When, in the

to resist all those buzzes, vibes,

says that when faced with digital

course of your day, do you let your

and rings, because your brain is

distractions, it can take people up

mind wander aimlessly? There is a

saying, Come onthink how

to 50 percent longer to complete

reason you have your best ideas in

good it will feel to take a peek!

a taskand that they make more

the shower: There are no screens

mistakes.

to distract you (unless you have a

are hard on your overtaxed brain.

So homework that took an

They are especially troublesome

hour and a half could have been

if youre supposed to be doing

finished in an hour!

schoolwork or something else

that requires deep thought. For
example, studies show that it can

waterproof phone).
Some experts worry that
your generation will be so busy
consuming media that you wont

Boredom Is the Best

However, what worries experts

be able to create anything of your

own. If everyone is busy playing

take your brain 30 minutes to

most is not that your essay on

Candy Crush, who will write the

achieve the state of concentration

Abraham Lincoln is taking you so

next Hunger Games? Or develop

you need to write an essay or read

long or that you got a 63 on your

a lifesaving treatment for cancer?

a chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Spanish test.

Or invent a faster way to travel

Every time you stop writing or

reading to check your phone
even for a momentyou yank

What worries experts is that you

It used to be that boredom

your brain out of its state of

was part of life. Just ask your

concentration.

parents what a family road

Think what a pain it is when

through outer space?

are never bored.

trip was like in the days before

you have to reboot a computer.

smartphones and in-car DVD

You wait for it to shut down, then

players. It was torture!

turn it on and wait for it to fire up

Turns out, something

again. This is what you are doing

happens to our brains when

to your brain every time you take

we are bored. Our minds

a technology break and then try to

wander. We come up with

get back to work.

new ideas, or new solutions to

No wonder simple projects

problems. Isaac Newton figured

take longer when you have your

out gravity while relaxing in his

phone next to you. David Strayer,

moms garden and watching

3,339
average number

of texts a teenager sends

or receives per month
Nielsen, October 2010

8 Scholastic Scope MARCH 2015

Getty Images/
iStockPhoto.com (Both Images)

But in fact, these interruptions

Many Questions
There is still much that we dont
know about the human brain. And
smartphones are still new enough

How To Be Smart
With Your Smartphone
By Mackenzie Carro

that its difficult to predict exactly

how they will affect our minds
over the long term, or whether the
benefits of todays technology will
outweigh the harm it causes.
What we do know is that digital
distraction can lead to very serious
situations. According to a study by
Ohio State University, the number
of emergency-room visits for

Set aside time each day to turn off all your

games. Enjoy the freedom of being undisturbed.

Dont sleep with your phone.

Your phone screen gives off a kind of light

that tells your brain to stay awake. Youre also

more likely to check your phone if its close. Keep

using a mobile device has tripled

it in a different room while you sleep.

are four times more likely to get hit

by a car if you walk and use your

99

notifications for social media, messaging, and

injuries related to walking while

over the past decade. Indeed, you

Dont carry your phone in a pocket.

Using a phone while you walk is dangerous. It

also gets in the way of enjoying your surroundings

phone at the same time.

Its a statistic that haunts Gwen

Christopher B. Short (Icons); Stephen Mithan/Alamy (Phone); Getty Images/iStockPhoto.com (Yawn,

Backpack); Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images (Crowd); Antagain/Getty Images (Knitting)

Do take control.

and fizzles the fabulous ideas brewing in your

Ward, Christinas mother. Since

brain. Put your phone in your bag, where its harder

Christinas tragic death, Ward

to get to. If you need to check it, stop walking.

has dedicated her life to trying to

prevent accidents like Christinas
from happening again. She created
a team of safety champions

Do be active every day.

Being in front of a screen all day means too

much sitting. Choose a fun activity to do every

at Christinas high school. They

day, whether its playing soccer, riding your bike,

stand at intersections, passing out

or dancing to your favorite playlist.

reflectors and pointing out unsafe

behaviors like texting or using
headphones to listen to music

Do practice concentration.
The convenience of get-an-answer-to-anything-

instantly technology can make us impatient. To

while crossing the street.

Ward also works with a group
called Safe Kids to spread the

combat this, take up a hobby that requires practice

and patience, like playing guitar or knitting.

message: Putting away your phone

might just save your life.

writing contest
There is a famous proverb that says all things in moderation. What does this proverb mean? Why
might it be wise to apply it to our digital lives? Answer both questions in a short essay. Use details
from the main article and the sidebar to support your ideas. Send your essay to ATTENTION
CONTEST. Five winners will each get Feed by M. T. Anderson. See page 2 for details.
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scope.scholastic.com MARCH 2015