Screw it, I'm blaming phones.
Learning, attentional control and action video games https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3461277/
Not nerd sniped at all.
> in other words, an end in and of itself — we have recently considered the possibility that enhanced attention is instead a means to an end, with that end being better probabilistic inference [54]
Improved probabilistic inference as a general learning mechanism with action video games [54] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20833324/
"The effects of mobile phone use on academic performance: A meta-analysis" [0]
"Results indicate the summary effect of mobile phone use on student outcomes is r = −0.16 with 95% CI of −0.20 to −0.13."
[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03601...
Refers to a more recent meta analysis from 2023 of 12000 kids and basically found no substantial negative effects from screen time
My wife is a teacher and phones are a constant problem but the administration refuses to do anything about them. It seems they recognize that some parents will freak out if they do not have access to their kids at all times and the admins are too spineless to take a stand against those few parents for the sake of everyone's education. It's absurd.
Several schools in my state (including one in the same school district as my wife) have been participating in an experimental phone ban for the last year and the results have been better than I could have expected. Grade levels and attendence are up by over 10%, fights are down significantly, and the overwhelming majority of parents are supportive. It's only a tiny few who object. But even with the numbers right in front of them, many admins are unwilling to adopt the bans in their schools. At this point it will probably take a mandate from the state government before they do the common sense thing.