While the federal government is debating the adoption of AI textbooks, there have been cases of scholars abandoning digital devices and returning to books, contrary to the worldwide trend. It’s difficult to match the introduction of AI with the straightforward use of digital devices, but there have been comments that this measure has improved students’ concentration.
Reuters reported on the tenth (local time) that starting this semester, a middle school in Riihimäki, a city with a population of 30,000 in Finland, will once more be using books as a substitute of providing laptops.
In accordance with this, Finland provides free laptops to students over the age of 11, and since 2018, most students have stopped using books.
Consequently, students were reported to be distracted and doing other things on their laptops during class.
“Most students would quickly check their lesson material after which play a game or chat on social media,” said Maya Kaunonen, an English teacher at Pohlanlinne Middle School. “They’d quickly switch tabs on their browsers when the teacher approached them.”
Across Finland, kid’s academic achievements have been slowly declining in recent times, and the federal government is planning latest laws to ban the use of non-public devices similar to mobile phones during school hours in an effort to scale back screen time.
A student at the college echoed the sentiment. “Sometimes I browse other web sites,” said 14-year-old Ele Soka.
Miko Mantilla and Inka Waro, who’re also in the identical grade, said that their concentration improved after beginning to learn with books. “Writing is less complicated on digital devices, but reading is way easier and faster with books,” they said.
“Young people lately use their phones and digital devices a lot, so we didn’t want children at college to simply stare at screens,” explained teacher Maunonen.
Screen time needs to be kept to a minimum, says clinical neuropsychologist Mina Peltofuro, who has been observing the changes for the reason that book’s introduction.
Finnish teenagers spend a median of six hours a day on screen time, and excessive digital use has been linked to physical and mental risks, similar to vision problems and increased anxiety.
He also said that multitasking while using digital devices can also be an issue. “The brain may be very vulnerable to multitasking, and particularly at a young age, it just isn’t superb at it,” he said.
Reporter Im Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
