It's In the Details

Technology.  When I was a kid, calculators were simply not allowed in a classroom unless it was approved to be used in the course.  We were still expected to use our heads or pencil and paper to work out the solution.  If you got caught with a calculator, it was considered cheating and off you would march to the Principal's office (and typically you left without your calculator which either was destroyed or placed conveniently in a drawer filled with other confiscated items).  30+ years later the calculator is only a minor part of the problem.  Spell check points out or even corrects spelling errors, text lingo is becoming commonplace in everyday communications, and grammar is despicable.  Everywhere you look someone has a cell phone in hand, fingers rapidly typing texts, social network posts, chat messages (and yes, I am completely guilty of this myself).  In the classroom you have to constantly watch students to ensure they are paying attention to you and not undergoing a deep conversation with a friend instead.  Our attention spans have gotten so short that we need gadgets in our hands at all times to keep us occupied.  As I spend the day correcting exams and end up failing a student because they did not take the time to read the details (or even the obvious) or double check their work, I simply become frustrated.  "Why can't they just read?".