CAMBRIDGE - It was supposed to be a quick diversion, Katie Inmantold herself last week as she flipped open her laptop. She had twotests to study for, three problem sets due, a paper to revise. Butwithin minutes, the MIT sophomore was drawn into the depths of theInternet, her work shunted aside.
"I had just closed Facebook, but then I reopened it. It'shorrible," said Inman, a mechanical engineering major. "I would typea sentence for my paper, and then get back on Facebook."
Desperate for productivity, Inman did something many of herclassmates at one of the most wired campuses would findunfathomable: She installed a program that blocks certain websitesfor up to 24 hours. No social networking. No e-mail. No aimlesssurfing.
While Inman took matters into her own hands, some MIT professorsare urging college leaders across the country to free students fromtheir tether to technology. Over the past decade, schools raced toconnect students to the Internet - in dorms, classrooms, evenunder the old oak tree. But now, what once would have beenconsidered heresy is an active point of discussion: pulling thevirtual plug to encourage students to pay more attention in classand become more adept at real-life social networking.
"I have been a bit skeptical about the value of making an entirecampus wireless," said Lawrence Bacow, president of Tufts Universityand former chancellor of MIT, where he was a professor when it beganwiring all classrooms in the mid-1990s. "It seems like everyone isalways plugged in and always distracted."
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - home to thefather of the World Wide Web and where the Internet is accessibleeven near the banks of the Charles River - students' eyesobsessively wander, midconversation, down to laptops and cellphones,checking for missed updates from friends.
In class, professors complain about students trading stocksonline, shopping for Hermes scarves, showing one another video clipson YouTube - leading some faculty to call for the unwiring of alllecture halls.
"Students are totally shameless about how they use theircomputers in class," said David Jones, an MIT professor. "Ifantasize about having a Wi-Fi jammer in my lecture halls to blockaccess to distractions."
While MIT has yet to unwire a single lecture hall, some lawschools, including the University of Chicago's, have in recent yearsblocked wireless access in classrooms to keep students engaged inSocratic discussions instead of their classmates' Groupon and eBayactivities.
Harvard Law School classrooms remain wired, but JonathanZittrain, a professor and Internet law specialist who cofounded theBerkman Center for Internet & Society, has banned laptops and allmobile devices from his first year torts class since 2004.
"If you sit in the back of the room and see what's going on, it'sso demoralizing," Zittrain said. "It's not just poker orMinesweeper, they're shopping for shoes as you're talking about somefascinating Supreme Court case."
But Zittrain said he would oppose a blanket university policythat blocks Web access from classrooms.
"If you break off the Internet, so what? They've got 3G on theirphones and iPads," he said. "Instead, come up with a rule andexpress it. And the students violate that rule at their peril."
Other colleges have maintained digital-free oases, despitecompetitive pressures forcing many schools to keep up in thetechnological arms race. At Tufts, spaces like the chapel remainInternet-free. And the College of the Holy Cross in Worcesterorganizes weeklong silent retreats to give students an opportunityto take a break from their iPhones and BlackBerrys. At AmherstCollege earlier this month, students were encouraged to disconnectfrom their technological devices for at least 15 minutes andmeditate, sip afternoon tea, or take a hike.
This freedom from constant connection is what Sherry Turkle, aprofessor in MIT's program in science, technology, and society, ispromoting - along with her new book, "Alone Together" - as shetravels the country encouraging colleges to pull back on Internetaccess.
"We're very seduced by the little red light on our BlackBerrys,by the ping that tells us we've got mail," Turkle said. "We'revulnerable to that feeling of being wanted and being connected, butwe need some time to be alone. Universities can strategically dosome `unwiring' as people look to create a space for themselves."
Two weeks ago, Jones was so fed up by his students' lack ofengagement in class discussions that he banned laptops from agraduate seminar on the history and anthropology of medicine andbiology. At any given time, he said, three of his eight studentsburied their heads in their laptops instead of listening to theirpeers.
Since the ban, students are making eye contact and listening toeach other more, Jones said.
Caterina Scaramelli, a doctoral student in Jones's class, saidshe was guilty of multitasking during class because she has too muchwork to complete and not enough time. But she supports the idea ofunwiring classrooms because "it's more important to have peoplereally participating in class."
"If we don't have our laptops to retreat to, we feel moreencouraged to talk to each other," she said. "It's frustrating whenyou put a lot of work into a class presentation, and you know yourclassmates are looking at their e-mails."
Jones said he is contemplating expanding the no-laptops policy tohis lecture courses, a move opposed by many students. Studentsaccuse the 40-year-old professor of being an "old fogey" when Jonestells them that they cannot possibly surf the Web and simultaneouslylisten to his lecture.
"I always wonder, `Why are they in class?', because it's clearthey are not paying attention," Jones said. "These are smartstudents, but they're doing terribly in class because they thinkthey can multitask but they can't."
Indeed, a 2009 Stanford University study showed that students whowere chronic media multitaskers were more easily distracted. Notonly did it impede students' concentration and learning, the effectslinger, said Clifford Nass, a communication professor who embarkedon the study after noticing freshmen would write papers in theirdorm while simultaneously chatting with multiple friends on Facebookwhile also talking to someone in their room and surfing the Web.
"I thought, `Wow, that's pretty awesome. What do they know that Idon't know, and how can I be like that?' " Nass said. "It seemedamazingly efficient."
But, it turned out, multitaskers are not good at switching tasksor ignoring irrelevant information. They also don't write as welland use simpler sentences, said Nass, author of "The Man Who Lied toHis Laptop" and who has examined the writing samples of Stanfordfreshmen. Such behaviors have very real consequences for the wiringof the young brain.
"The scarier part is that even when they stop multitasking, theirbrains still don't work properly," Nass said. "Basically, they justdon't pay attention well. Limiting multitasking in the classroom isnot sufficient. People have to limit it when they're alone, too."
Even more worrisome than the negative effect on academics is thesocial consequence, said Nass, whose current research focuses on theemotional implications. Preliminary evidence shows that collegestudents who multitask are less emotionally attuned to others, hesaid.
"There is not much emotional content on Facebook," Nass said."You essentially have a generation that is becoming sociallyautistic because they lack the practicing skills to navigate socialand emotional life."
In the bustling student center at MIT, clusters of students siton couches, peering at their computer screens instead of talking toeach other. William Chin browsed photos of friends on Facebook fromhis computer while checking his phone for e-mails.
"I really should be working," said Chin, an urban studies andplanning major who would welcome a space on campus without Internetaccess. Some friends, Chin said, have temporarily deactivated theirFacebook accounts during finals weeks. Others have begged friends tochange Facebook passwords for them, so they won't have access totheir own accounts.
As for Inman, she has developed a new routine to keep fromsuccumbing to the lure of the Internet. Around 9:30 each evening asshe settles down to study, she sets the self-control application onher laptop for two hours. She is blocked from Facebook, Twitter, andother websites she does not want to be tempted by.
And there is nothing she can do to disable it once it is set.
"It drove me crazy the other day in class. I turned on the self-control app so I could focus, but I was getting really bored," Inmansaid. "So I fell asleep."
Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.
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