Teachers say the digital age has had a good influence - and a not-so-good influence - on this generation of American teenagers£®More than 2,000 teachers took an online survey£®Three-quarters of the teachers said the Internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly positive" effect on their students' research habits and skills£®But 64 percent said the technologies "do more to distract£¨Ê¹ - - - ---·ÖÐÄ£© students than to help them academically£®" And 87 percent agreed that these technologies are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans£®"

The Pew Internet Project did the survey with the National Writing Project£®Judy Buchanan is the vice director of the National Writing Project and a co-author of the report£®Ms£®Buchanan says digital research tools are helping students learn more and faster£®"Teachers really favor these tools because they are ways to make some of the learning exciting and engaging£®Young people favor these tools£®The goal is to really help them become creators of meaningful content, and not just sort of consumers£®"