Does the presence of technology in the classroom such as tablets and laptops affect students' attention span and ability to read fluently?

I often wonder about the significantly less time my  World Geography students spend reading than I used to as a kid. They groan every time I ask them to read.

Actually, they complain when I ask them to write just as often! That is about all I remember doing in high school, reading books in class, talking about it and then writing about what we read. It seemed pretty simple.

Today though, I became very interested in the idea of a GIS lab at my school. Geography teachers teaching high level, college credit courses on MAP MAKING...how cool is that? I think students would love gathering and analyzing data on crimes or the spread of diseases and then making maps.

Population Density Map

Or this! Using GIS mapping to track corruption in the notoriously corrupt country of India.Wow, that's inspiring. I lived in India for 11 years so I can say first hand that corruption is one of the leading factors preventing advanced economic development for the nation. Plenty of public works projects like roads, bridges, bus stations and public bathrooms are never completed  because the engineers and supervisors sell the materials or pocket the budget. This new technology could stop all that by allowing civil engineers on site to update photos to the supervisor to ensure everything is done on time and as required. GPS marks the picture with date and time, so no cheating is possible. GIS marks the picture with an exact location, so it's not possible to fake the work. BRILLIANT.

Indian tech guru solves corruption with maps