If you go into a library today you will see the elderly reading books and the youth on their electronics. Going into a bookstore, you see plenty of ads about its website and available ebooks, overshadowing the books it has on the shelves.

Electronics are everywhere and they are addicting. They are interfering with our youth and their education. We can’t get rid of technology, but we sure can stop trying to promote it.

In Maine, for example, there is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, or MLTI program, where many public schools — including Edward Little High School —  give students Apple products for the year to help them get ahead and ready for the world.

That is not helping students get over their problem of multi-tasking. It is fueling the problem of multi-tasking.

If there is no attempt to fix the problem, then many of my generation with never finish the game of catch-up and may never really get the education they need for the world ahead.

People say multi-tasking is something that is a must to have for today’s current job field. But some see the need to start enhancing their multi-tasking skills with technology and education.

It is understandable for the job field to ask for people who can multi-task well. People who multi-task on the job normally find themselves getting more projects done at once and attempting to rise ahead of others. That is what I like to call the “world of catch-up.”

The world of catch-up is moving into youths’ lives more and more every day and it seems like, even in schools today, everyone is playing the old game. Many teenagers in high school are constantly behind in their studies and falling farther behind in their classes. But nobody seems to ever address the elephant in the room — multi-tasking.

High school students are one of the biggest age groups at the moment who believe that multi-tasking their school work with their technology is doing no harm. But actually, it is doing just the opposite.

Multi-tasking is taking part, if not all, of their attention away from their studies. When that happens, they are falling behind and trying to catch up.

My generation will never beat the game of catch-up if we don’t first realize that multi-tasking with technology and education just doesn’t mix.

In today’s culture, everyone is either caught up in the motion of electronics, or playing catch-up in the world of education.

The younger ages of today’s population are among the most susceptible to electronics, the feel of the gossip and the ability to go anywhere without leaving home. Those can give a temporary adult-like feel, which is far too addictive for teenagers to just simply give up. That thrill, unfortunately, is interfering with one of the most crucial pillars in everyone’s life: education.

Everyone in the world deserves education, but some don’t get to utilize it, and many today take it for granted. Education is crucial and yet most put it behind the advancing technology.

Travis Burnham of Auburn is a senior at Edward Little High School.