While you page through this Portraits magazine you may be doing something else as well—perhaps listening to music, checking your pager, talking on the phone, or watching the news. By the time you finish reading this letter, you may have a long list of e-mails waiting.

In a world of cell phones, headphones, iPods and IM, competition for our attention is intense, and multitasking has become as fashionable as the latest music download. We’re all susceptible; I’d be lost without my laptop and phone that leave me accessible virtually anywhere.

For many of today’s students, the “millennial generation,” free time is spent online in a favorite chat room or updating a personal blog. They’re wired, but are they really connected to one another and to the world? Our cover story explores the influence of technology on life and learning from the perspective of our students and faculty.

You may be surprised to learn that many students send text messages or call their parents after class, just to “check in.” They admit their cells phones (which also take pictures) have become electronic extensions of their identities.

As educators, we have the great privilege and responsibility to guide students to become independent thinkers. We give them the tools to study, discuss, question, and to discover who they are and who they can become. And we must guide them through the world of technology, helping them to understand both its benefits and its risks.

Of course, technology is an important part of learning, and to some extent leisure. But if a person becomes overly dependent upon it for every aspect of life, then something is missing. That something was part of my opening day message to our freshmen.

For students at a Benedictine college, attentive listening is a prerequisite for real success. This very Benedictine value means that a person becomes reflective enough, quiet enough to listen not only to the spoken word, but to “listen” to the written word; to how good people live and how their example can influence our behavior; to “listen” to the truth in all the arts and sciences. It means that we listen for what God may be asking of us for our life’s work.

There is nothing passive about this type of listening. It requires that we be present to whatever is before us; and it requires silence—shutting off the other sounds to truly listen for what is most important.

Surrounded as we all are with the technology that sometimes helps and sometimes distracts, I hope the class of 2009 will remember that at the start of their adventure someone reminded them how important it is to listen attentively and to welcome the sound of silence.

Sincerely,

Rev. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B.
President