The Media Spot

Mr. Destefano, a friend and consulting educator for TMS, is at it again with his high school class in Littleton, Colorado: the 2008 Tech Turn-off.

Each year Mr. D asks his class to forgo TV, movies, text messaging, email and other communication technologies for a week, and journal their experiences on their class blog. The class always generates thoughtful discussion of the role these technologies play: the ways they help and hinder us; the ways they interconnect and isolate us; the effect they have on our physical, social, and emotional landscape.

The question of the day, from Assignment #2:

As you guys know, text messaging, Facebooks, Myspace, email, even television (in one sense) boast of connecting us to our friends and to the world. But a couple of you noted how the tech turnoff helped you share “quality” family time, or how you called a friend and talked to a “person” rather than simply texting him or her. The same couple of you even speculated that the world without these technologies would actually improve your relationships. So which is it? Do these technologies impair or support our relationships?

Have a look at Heritage High's Tech Turn-off blog to see what the students think. As always, this is an excellent, simple project to introduce media education concepts into the classroom. If you're a teacher, camp counselor, or other mentor for children and would like to try your own "tech turn-off", we can help you set up a blog or otherwise journal your experiences. Just get in touch. And thanks, Mr. D, for providing a great model!