Bleary Eyed Students and Distracted Church Members Tell Us Who is to Blame: Cell Phone and Text Messaging have Invaded Puerto Rico.

From the falling grades of some of our students, I find it very easy to believe this report I read in a Florida news paper:

"Study finds technology can lower IQ" - St. Petersburg Times

A study commissioned by Hewlett-Packard has found that excessive day-to-day use of technology - whether it's sending e-mails or using mobile phones - can be more distracting and harmful to the IQ than smoking marijuana. The study called this condition info-mania. The study, conducted in Britain this year, involved 80 volunteers who took part in clinical trials and interviews with 1,100 subjects. But the study said "an average worker's functioning IQ falls 10 points when distracted by ringing telephones and incoming e-mails . . . more than double the 4-point drop seen following studies on the impact of smoking marijuana." The research found that 62 percent of adults are addicted to checking e-mail and text messages. Half of the workers would "respond to an e-mail immediately or within 60 minutes." One in five is "happy to interrupt a business or social meeting to respond to an e-mail or telephone message."
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Add "Happy to run out to the church parking lot during the Sermon to answer the cell phone" and the article would describe what I see here in Puerto Rico. I have often wished that the Puerto Ricans would adopt some of our US customs. Well, they have! But they adopted the wrong one!