Could you type an essay blindfolded? Maybe, but even with all the hours you spend sitting on a swivel chair and punching keys, there’s almost no chance you could get through, say, a two-page paper scot free if you’re not looking at the text. What if you had to type the same two-page essay on your mobile phone? Could you do that?
Mobile technology, specifically the rise of smartphones in recent years, has been a truly life-changing experience for much of the world. It's especially affected those individuals between the ages of 12 and 30. It’s no longer uncommon for younger generations to have completely done away with desktop computers or even laptops since they can access a Google Doc and type, organize, and instantly share all their important documents with a handheld phone.
While the advances with smartphone technology have drastically improved our technological capabilities, it's also altered the behaviors of many. Think back to typing without looking. Is it easier on a traditional 26-character QWERTY keyboard you can simply place your hands on top of? Or, would you prefer the common and much smaller surface of an iPhone screen? Remember, you’re not looking while you type.
Adding smartphones to classroom learning.
Since the immersion of smartphones into our everyday lives, this has drawn interest among parents, teachers, and researchers. Walk by any high school classroom and you’re bound to see one or two students staring straight ahead, seemingly engaged in the material, but on closer look, their fingers are typing a mile a minute on their lap or in their pocket. Their blind texting (or tweeting) skills have evolved into something they can do cleverly—and easily.
Communication has evolved from messages drafted on typewriters that took hours to create to traditional style keyboards and then to touchscreen phones with keys you can’t even feel but have mass sharing abilities. One possible explanation for this is that technology drives our skills. Much like animals, our tech-related skills have evolved to encompass attributes we never knew we needed. Is typing a 400-word text message about whose outfit was better while pretending to pay attention in class a skill? In a way, today’s generation has taught itself these skills technology as the driving force. For teens to not feel challenged by this speaks to their unique skills in a tech-filled world.
Why is this texting skill innovative?
This is just one, albeit sizable, example of how the world has changed with new virtual tools. For impressionable children, particularly teenagers, to get all they can from their technology tools, they should using them to better their education rather than mastering skills that have little real value. So, how do educators communicate that some useful variation of these skills does have a place in their lives?
The obvious answer is to take these borderline innovations that children have learned on their own and illustrate that they can use their skills and abilities to create new solutions and solve actual pressing problems. In a similar way to developing these blind texting skills, Smart Board technology has followed a somewhat similar path. Classroom tech started as a computer on a desk with a button you’d press to get a printout. Now, you can move images, entire documents and play or edit videos with just one finger—the same finger that’s probably sent a couple hundred pocket texts this school year.
It’s not only teenager-developed skills, however, that enable blind text messaging—there are features within the phone, such as autocorrect, that help people in this position. It still requires mastery since, in most cases, there aren't keys you can correctly press just because you feel them. In the touchscreen world, unlike when the secret texting in class epidemic first began, this is likely not possible. There’s no way to feel the keys; it’s essentially a vague form of muscle memory telling the user where they remember the keys to be located.
Showing that teens can adapt in other ways.
Despite the birth of this unusual skill, the ability for teenagers to send texts without looking could wind up being more of a damaging thing than a positive one if not approached correctly. Think about their attempts to fool their teachers during lectures—who are they hurting? When focused on the message, students obviously disengage from the lesson and miss important messages from teachers.
When another epidemic—texting and driving—comes into play, the ramifications are much more serious. Teens sometimes steer cars with their knees to use both hands for texting and even though they still (presumably) have at least one eye on the road, their focus is severely compromised. Quick glances at screen because they crave constant connection now come with even more danger. Teens thinking they can multitask and use their skills of texting without looking are potentially a safety concern. Plus, there's also the distraction it presents in other settings, such as the classroom.
This is just one illustration of how introductions of new technology have changed everyday experiences. Parents think that just because their kids are looking right at them, they are listening. In reality, however, their hands are vigorously moving out of view because their composing a text message. Technology tools designed to make life easier have resulted in changing everyday life in other ways. And, one of these examples is this texting trend.
Why are we even thinking about this?
The way that the brain views the capabilities of our thumbs has seemed to evolve as well as we have trained ourselves to effortlessly conduct new tasks over time. Over time, these actions become more normal and result in us building more connections. In other words, due to our mental capacities, our physical abilities—in this area—have increased. Just because thumbs are more represented in the brain, however, does this enhance a student’s ability to learn? Teachers don’t see it yet.
The question then becomes: with this unique way of solving social problems during school, what else can kids find solutions to? Perhaps they can turn their classroom tricks into pioneering inventions and create products that improve text messaging for the blind or visually impaired. Or, maybe they can devise a totally new way to text altogether. All it takes is one thought to propel a potentially life-changing design that. Using their outside-the-box approach and first-hand knowledge of how to improve a current situation, it could happen. If they can learn to text undetected, think of all the other, more important things they could do.
Evolving into more than texting pros.
Maybe someone could come up with a way to bring e-textbooks into their classrooms in a way that would allow groups of students to collaborate on work while using one device. Any new idea is worth hearing and with the entrepreneurial nature stored inside many kids combined with their drive to succeed, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t try. This is how we improve the educational technology they use along with others all over the world.
Today, there are so many technologies that make all aspects of 21st century life easier. They help people of all ages find creative solutions to lingering problems. Instead of finding innovative solutions for texting, students could focus more on real-world problems and learning skills for the future. They should spend more time working on that essay (while looking at it) than perfecting their texting skills, because in today’s world, if you’re not innovating, you’re not moving forward. Follow us on Twitter more.