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High School Unplugged: Students Go Gadget Free for a Day

by Warren Riddle on May 28, 2009 at 11:08 AM


Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently urged graduates of the University of Pennsylvania to turn off their computers and gadgets in order to get outside and engage in actual human-to-human interaction. According to SiliconValley.com, John Ribovich, a teacher at Milpitas High School in California, last week decided to impart the same lesson to his senior English students. While guiding lessons on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a book which describes a futuristic world of mindless drones controlled in part by technology, Ribovich instructed his students to unplug from all of their gadgets for a 12 hour period, beginning at 8 a.m.

The students, who admittedly got "a little antsy" while unable to constantly text or sext, actually read books and enjoyed face-to-face discussions over the course of the day. People who weren't born into a world with Internet and Nintendo may scoff at struggling through 12 hours without technology, but Mr. Ribovich thought it would be invaluable for his instantly gratified, tech-dependent teens to share a "common experience." Let's just hope the valuable lesson in gadget withdrawal makes them appreciate a world without technology, instead of scaring them into a Huxley-inspired, plugged-in morass of conformity. [From: SiliconValley.com]

Tags: addiction, education, highschool, internetaddiction, teens, texting, top

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