Screen time is an idea that is taking a stronger hold on the mind of the modern parent. What used to be time spent watching television or movies on screens has morphed into a personal device which can access anything from tutorials to people overeating so much they cause themselves medical problems.
The COVID pandemic did nothing but increase time spent on these small screens. Whether you were using the screen as a babysitter while you were working from home or because there was a teacher on trying to get your child through some lessons, we spent even more time on these devices. I had the double whammy of teaching over Zoom while my children got no video instruction- they had the pleasure of playing “Adopt Me” on Roblox for more hours than I could possibly count.
In his piece “The End of Screens?,” Cal Newport treats us to a glance of the future in which a monitor or a laptop screen will no longer be used. Instead a headset (think something like Google Glass was attempting to be) would provide an augmented reality view of your screen(s). In this way, people could shift their working environment and not be tied to a particular device screen in a particular place.
While the initial thought for me is “cool,” I put on the lens of a special educator.
What would be the implications for a 1:1 classroom? No more laptops or iPads… now everyone puts on their glasses and sees what is on their personal device? How about the SmartBoard or interactive whiteboard… are we putting on glasses and seeing what the teacher is using/manipulating in augmented reality?
Let’s go in another direction too- what would this mean for delivery of instruction and management of a classroom? No more laptop cart- instead a place to hang the glasses and keyboard/device that interfaces with the glasses?
My head is spinning.
The reality is we don’t know how this technology will take off. It could disrupt everything we know in the home electronic markets, but not touch education for another 15 years. Especially when we consider budget cycles and access to funds when current devices might not be obsolete.
Regardless, we need to remember that technology is an augmentation of what teachers do well. Nothing more, and nothing less. Keep that in mind and the screens won’t matter, they’ll continue to make good teaching better.
