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Tori Betteridge
Dominic Borowiak
ENG 111
11 December 2014
AMS: Technologys Negative Impact on Communication and Learning
In the world today, we see technology making a huge impact on our lives more and more.
Technology is such a distinctive tool with a purpose, that if you use it in the wrong way, then it
will not benefit us as a society. Technology has started to negatively impact learning and
communication with students and adults. I have noticed throughout my high school years,
everyone is making a big to-do about how technology is so great and how it helps students with
learning in the time period that we are in. Some people will say that technology has many good
things going for it, but I think that those who utilize technology to its full potential will notice the
change in themselves. Technology has started to hinder the correct usage of learning and
communication in just about everyone. It has given people the chance to become reliant on
technology because everyone is switching over to the paperless and pencil-less way of life. I
can vouch for other students saying that technology is getting the best of us. The technological
advances that I see, have changed me in ways that arent good. I see myself turning to Google
when I dont want to answer a homework question, because Im tired and lazy. Also, my
classrooms have gone from books and paper to iPads and computers. Technology for me, and for
many of us, is right at our fingertips and is very convenient. Almost everyone has a smart phone
or a technological device that is supposed to make their life easier. Thats why they are called
smart phones, right? Smart Phones come with internet at the fingertips, auto-correct, an
automated voice to talk to, many apps that serve different purposes, and everything can be done

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right on it. It has created a hurdle and obstacle in our ability to learn and communicate. Learning
and communication could be considered directly related. In everyday life, people communicate
with each other all the time. Employers and employees, teachers and students, family to family,
or even friend to friends, communication is present. When it comes to learning, communication
has to be present. Teachers and students have to get their point across to each other. If a teacher
doesnt know how to communicate, then how are they supposed to give students real information
and help them learn? If teachers cant, then how are students supposed to follow in their
footsteps and learn how to communicate effectively? Without the basic knowledge and idea of
communication, learning cant be done.
Technology seems to be hurting us in more than one way, and its not just
through students. It doesnt just have to be regular, classroom learning, when it comes to online
classes communication between students and teachers feel as if there isnt much guidance going
on. The lack of communication causes students to fall in their studies. If teachers cant give the
students what they need, then how can they benefit from the class? In the article, Technology
Hurts More Than it Helps in Classes by Shaan- Yadav Ranjan, from The Exponent Online,
explains how the communication between students and teachers with online classes is affecting
each other. One specific item that really struck me was, The problem is that students are no
longer graded on how they process the questions and are only graded on if the question is right or
wrong. This pushes the focus from understanding what the problem says and how to answer it, to
focusing on just how to do the problem and get the correct answer (Ranjan, Technology Hurts
More Than it Helps in Classes). When teachers are educating students through technology
theres bound to be communication errors. Teachers are unable to explain through the internet
what the student did wrong and why its wrong. This gives the student no benefit in learning.

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Why should a student be put through a class without any explanation of what they did wrong?
The barrier of the internet creates a more difficult learning area for students in this day and age.
Learning through Technology can be misconstrued as being a wonderful way to get acquainted
with the tools of the 21st Century. Another miscommunication between teachers and students is
the use of PowerPoint. Ranjan states, If a professor puts all the information on power points,
and then hands the power points out or make them available to students online, then the students
have no real reason to pay attention to the class or take notes. If this is the case then why are
students even paying for a class, they should just pay to get power points and then take an exam
(Ranjan, Technology Hurts More Than it Helps in Classes). I have to agree. The communication
between the teachers and the students is basically non-existent. With the help of a PowerPoint,
we no longer need a teacher. Give us the information, give us an exam, and then we can pass the
class. Technology is just a bad tool to use when teachers and students are trying to communicate
between each other for learning purposes. Communication is key between teachers and students.
If teachers are going to be bad examples, then students will follow in their footsteps.
Students are starting to utilize technology to do everything, which includes
communicating with their teachers, friends, and peers. The effects of technology being in our
lives so much, is causing students to fall in their learning and communication overall.
Communication is the basic building block to be able to learn in a proficient way. A teacher must
be able to communicate to their students in order for them learn, as well as students need to be
able to communicate back to their teachers to understand the information being taught. As I read
through the article, I Think, Therefore IM by Jennifer Lee, a technology reporter for The New
York Times and a writer for the Metro section, I noticed that technology has got the best of us
and has started to affect our communication everyone of us. Shortcuts such as, u, r, ur, wuz, and

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cuz are all being used today by many students. They use them for texting, IM-ing, SnapChatting, etc. and its starting to bleed from their personal lives into their formal usage of
writing. A teacher named Jacqueline Harding said, Kids should know the difference, they
should know where to draw the line (Lee 395). And its true. Students are forgetting that, that
texting lingo is a personal use. A young girl named Eve Brecker from Montclair High School in
New Jersey said, You are so used to abbreviating things, you just start doing it unconsciously
on schoolwork and reports and other things (Lee 395). Another young girl, named Montana
Hodgen said that she is so used to the abbreviations that she reads right past them. I was so used
to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didnt even realize that there
was something wrong (Lee 396). Technologys force is getting stronger and its making it
harder for students to delve deep into the process of learning. With all these short cuts, its
affecting their ability to communicate clearly and correctly. Without communication, how can
someone learn efficiently? Learning is important for everyone, if technology stays present, then
so will the poor communication skills.
By utilizing the internet and technology, it has started to make us think more efficient,
quickly, and proficiently. Or thats what they say. When it comes to technology, many people are
starting to notice a negative change in themselves. They see their focus depleting. The use of
technology is causing a surface level mind process. As I dig deeper, I find that John Tagg, an
associate professor of English at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, has an important
theory to share with the same idea in mind. In the article, Why Learn? he shares a story about a
Professor that meets two of his ex-students on his way to class. One was Jack, a student who
received an A in the Class. The other was Jill, a young lady who failed. The difference between
Jack and Jills grades was based off of quantitative tests. Jack explained that if he were to take

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the professors exam that day, he wouldnt have passed, because he does not remember a single
thing. On the other hand, Jill explained that even though she failed the class, it helped her realize
what she was doing wrong and how she changed her major. It helped her get her act together.
The difference of their learning abilities is considered to be qualitative. She technically learned
better than Jack did. Jack was doing a surface level processing job of keeping his grade up in the
class. He studied for the time being, and never thought about possibly needing it for the future.
But, Jill failed the class, yet she took something out of it. Deep level processing is when someone
who takes a deep approach to thinking. They focus on the meaning, what the signs mean, what
the ideas the author presents, and the concept of the numbers. Our minds are getting to the point
of becoming so programmed by technology, that thinking becomes a difficult task for us and it
turns into a surface level processing, instead of a deep level learning situation. Tagg also states
the difference between performance goals and learning goals with information from Carol
Dweck, a psychologist from Columbia University, in her book Self Theories: Their Role in
Motivation, Personality, and Development. It states that performance goals are about winning
positive judgments of your competence and avoiding negative ones (Tagg 3). They are the ones
that want to receive the A. When it comes to learning goals, the aim is to increase your
competence. That student wants to have more understanding. Learning goals are for personal
change. Those who set up learning goals tend to take a deeper approach to learning. So the
reason why we have so many more Jacks than Jills is that we make them (Tagg 9). The we is
teachers/administrators in colleges/schools. They want the ones who have the As and 4.0 GPA,
not the ones who actually are learning. So, students will do whatever is takes to be that one with
the good grades, even if it means going to technology for the answers. Technology, for a handful
of students, serves the purpose of getting good grades. With the internet, all you have to do is

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type in a question and it will give you the answer, which seems easy enough. It gives the students
the chance to get the right answer, which will boost their grade, and give them what they need to
pass and move on in life. Technology is causing many to not be able to learn in a proficient way.
In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr, a well-known writer, who has
published periodicals in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The
Financial Times, and many more, talks about how technology affects our cognitive processes
and our relationship with information. Carr talks about how he can tell in himself, that his mind
is changing and it usually occurs when hes reading. Now my concentration often starts to drift
after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I
feel as if Im always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to
come naturally has become a struggle (Carr 371). I believe that I am in the same situation as
Carr. As I try to do assignments or read, I find myself falling back to the internet and trying to
find something else to do or listen to music. Im so pre-occupied with other things, I just want to
do other things, rather than actually accomplishing what needs to get done. And what the Net
seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind
now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of
particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip across the surface like a guy
on a Jet Ski (Carr 371). This quote is so vivid in truthfulness and imagery. He is so sincere
about the use of technology affecting the way we all think. Just as he is a Jet Skier, so am I.
Everyone utilizes technology. When technology is so prevalent, its bound to change our
communication skills and how well we learn as a person. If technology stays present, as much as
it already is, then everyone should expect to see our skills deplete into dust. The surface level
processing our minds are in just gets even more enforced through technology.

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The problem that is presented is large and should get taken care of. All in all,
technology has had a large, negative effect on learning and communication. Adults are unable to
read and stay focused, students are distracted and forget to use real English affecting their ability
to learn, and not to mention that teachers are even forgetting how to communicate effectively to
their pupils. Minimizing the trouble and getting back to basics is what should be happening.
Using the text books and pencils, just real, tangible objects, which could make learning more
efficient for everyone. I dont hate technology, and its not something to hate, but if we utilize
too much of it in schools and learning, then students and teachers will keep making the same
mistakes. Everyone is affected. Its not just one person or a small group. Technology reaches out
to everyone, and if there isnt some kind of intervention, then technology will keep advancing
and taking over. So, why dont we just go back to the old days? They seemed to live and do just
fine without technology. But, I think that we are capable of taking on a little bit of technology,
just not our entire lifestyle overtaken by it.

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Works Cited
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Exploring Relationships: Globalization
and Learning in the 21st Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 370-377
Lee, Jennifer. "I Think, Therefore IM." Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in
the 21st Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 395-397.
Ranjan, Shaan- Yadav. "Technology Hurts More Than It Helps in Classes." The Exponent
Online. 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Tagg, John. "Why Learn?" About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience. 9.1
(2004): 2-10. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.