Om den uformelle (mis)brug af medier i det formelle uddannelsessystem [The non-formal (mis)use of media in formal education]

Abstract

A combination of educational research and theory of media is applied in order to understand the use of new digital media among Danish high school students. By analyzing interviews with students and teachers the authors present an interpretation of the students’ media use and its consequences. One of the main results is that the use of the new media leads to problems of inattentiveness and lack of concentration related to different forms of media-addiction. The authors present an explanation of how the students’ attention is drawn away from the teaching and of what they focus on instead. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the use of media such as Messenger not only redirects the attention of the students, it also deconstructs the distinction between formal and non-formal learning. Partly contrary to what the students and their teachers say themselves, it is suggested on more theoretical grounds that a new kind of deconstructing learning process is occurring, in which the teacher is the one most excluded. Yet it is concluded that an adequate response to the problems of media-addiction and the emergence of new kinds of inclusion and exclusion calls for further media didactic reflections.