virtually an idiot

The New York Times gives us the opportunity to gauge our distraction by playing an online simulation. The game:

...measures how your reaction time is affected by external distractions.

I'm a savvy TXTR!

I switched lanes for a virtual mile, and then I received the first of three text messages. The rules said that I had to respond, and that I had to do so while driving and moving from lane to lane.



After I responded to the third TXT, the game ended, and I received my own bar graph:

Observations:

• My driving acumen improved with each TXT, so I'll just get better and better the more I TXT while driving. Yay!
  
• 23 percentage points worse than other participants!!! From a demographic angle, I thought I was on the younger side of NY Times readers...especially online readers. Shameful.
  
• I have responded to, and even sent, text messages while driving with my children. Moron.
  

all sextd up and no one to phone

Teens are sending nude images of themselves via their cell phones. Maybe you know this already. If so, you recognize that sexting is better than texting, and way, way more enjoyable than texting-with-benefits.




















But there's a downside. According to an ABC news story:

In Alabama, authorities arrested four middle-school students for exchanging nude photos of themselves.

Reminds me of middle-school, when I traded my Candy Maldanado card for a Dan Quisenberry and my friend and I wound up violating a bucketful of MLB proprietary guidelines and next thing you know, we're both under arrest, splashed across television screens, plastered all over local and national papers, mired in ignominy and embarrassment.

Thank goodness we didn't have cell phones.

y txtin is betr

C...u ask me a ? that needs a 1 word answer, but 4 me 2 get it, I have 2 open the First Class icon, type in my username and password, click on the 'mailbox' icon, click on the unread message icon, read the email, click 'reply', click 'send', click 'file', move cursor down to 'exit', then click on the 'start menu', click on 'log off', reinforce my intention to log-off by clicking on the 'yes-i-really-do-plan-on-logging-off-now' icon and then sit motionless, staring at the screen to insure that the computer lives up to its end of the bargain, and does, according to my double-swear, log itself off of the network.

Now, w/ txtin:
C...u ask me a ? that needs a 1 word answer, but 4 me 2 get it, I have 2 open the First Class icon, type in my username and password, click on the 'mailbox' icon, click on the unread message icon, read the email, click reply , click send , click 'file', move cursor down to 'exit', then click on the 'start menu', click on 'log off', reinforce my intention to log-off by clicking on the 'yes-i-really-do-plan-on-logging-off-now' icon and then sit motionless, staring at the screen to insure that the computer lives up to its end of the bargain, and does, according to my double-swear, log itself off of the network.

unlimited tutoring

We tried meeting on weekdays, but it's tough. Sunday mornings work best, but even then, the unpredictability of life makes these morning tutoring sessions, at best, intermittent.

So I text the student:

- Do u hv unlimited txt?
- Y
- Do u hv web?
- Y
- R U mendacious?

There's a delay, a gap of time, and it passes by until eight minutes later:

- R U calling me a liar?
- Would U prefer b n sagacious?

I'm rolling a size-1 soccer ball to Quinn. She's just mastered sitting-up, and when the ball stops between her legs, she leans over, picks it up, and treats it like a teether.

- Yeah, wise. That's me. Ms. 2400!

So now I tutor and the student responds at varying times. I'm not going to claim this is perfect; a substitute for face-to-face, pull out the Kaplan, Princeton Review, and College Board books. But when our lives seem to pull us in every direction except the one that brings us together, this strategy keeps us cognizant of our task, and provides another way for students to learn and teachers to teach.