Student Mirte Brouwer has a love-hate relationship with her laptop. Naturally while studying you cannot do without, but could we perhaps use it a little less? She argues for less screen time and more time in the real world.
(Photo: Sam Rentmeester)
“Dad, we’re going to cross the water!” cried a child of about three as he excitedly tapped on the window. I was on a crowded train in the middle of rush hour. All we could hear was the creaking of the carriages and, in between, the child’s enthusiastic cries when he spotted another spectacular sheep or a fantastic field outside. The scenery he was so excited about completely passed me by. Instead of at the sheep outside, I was looking at vacation pictures from friends. And I was not alone in this. My fellow travellers were also on Instagram, TikTok or Netflix. The kid was the only one looking out the window.
I can’t really blame myself for my digital escapism. The day had been long enough, and in the half-hour between university and home, it was nice to disappear into a reality where all the food looks great and you never have to concentrate for more than 90 seconds. Besides, despite the child’s enthusiastic shouts, I don’t think I missed anything outside. In the idle minutes on the train, I enjoy being online. But, what I find disappointing, is that almost all my studies also take place entirely on a screen.
It started with the lockdown, halfway through my first year at TU Delft. I went from being on campus every day to studying in my room at home five days a week. Everything was online: from coaching sessions, lectures, and meetings with project group mates, to working on assignments and taking exams. Weeks in which I spent 40 to 50 hours at my laptop were no exception. The relief was great when we could go back to campus. It was wonderful to see people in real life and walk around on campus. But my laptop hours didn’t really decrease. From sitting at my laptop at home, I went to sitting at my laptop at TU Delft.
In project groups we usually collaborate digitally, even if we are in the same room
Lectures could be in-person again, but during a lecture everyone is on their laptop taking notes or shopping online. Having a laptop in front of you means having to resist distractions for the duration of the lecture, but showing up with only a notebook doesn’t really work because of digital quizzes during lectures or discussions for which you need to look up information. If I think about what it’s like for a professor, during a lecture a wall of silver laptops strikes me as an uninspiring view.
And in project groups we usually collaborate digitally, even if we are in the same room. Brainstorming, which used to require a mountain of sticky notes and a blank wall, is done on online whiteboards. It may be a nice piece of technology, but in terms of creativity, the distraction of a laptop doesn’t help. Even the few books I had to read for my courses were digital.
This way, what benefit does coming to campus have? I’m fine with needing a computer for some of my course work, but I don’t want to do everything online. We need to think about how to capitalise on the potential of in-person education. It’s a matter of finding a balance between using digital resources in a way that adds value, and building in space for studying together without the distraction of screens. For now, I’ll try to put my laptop away more often. When I’m back on the train sometime soon, I might even look out the window.
Mirte Brouwer is a master’s student in Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft and a master’s student in Dutch Literature and Literary studies at VU University Amsterdam.
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m.c.brouwer@student.tudelft.nl
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