Multitasking in a Digital World - At what point does Multitasking create Diminishing Returns?

       In the documentary by Frontline which we had to watch as a class, the issue that was discussed was our new digital world and how it effects our society, especially students.  One of the issues that I personally found interesting that they talked about was the issue of multitasking and whether or not it benefits todays students.  I know that I have a tough time sitting down and just focusing on the task at hand without getting distracted with my phone right next to me or my fantasy football team online or facebook.  Is this much technology hurting our students?
       In one case, students at MIT were interviewed and surveyed about how much they are on their computers or phones or some type of digital screen in front of them.  The professor's at MIT feel that too much technology leads to too much multitasking which in turn leads to students being less productive in their work. One professor said that he gave a test to his students that should have been easy for them to ace, but the average on the test was a 75.  According to him this was due to the fact that he knows that his students are doing everything but paying attention to his lectures or doing his readings while in class.  Most of them are on their laptops looking at facebook or checking their email. 
       In another case a public school in the bronx where only 9% of their students were meeting state standards took the approach of bringing as much technology to their program as they could, and the results were astonishing.  Many principles have been their trying to bring the school out of their unproductive status and turn the school around, and none succeeded until Jason Levy came their and gave the students as much technology as they could get their hands on.  His theory was that technology should be just as attainable to students as much as oxygen is, and not giving it to them is depriving them of their potential.  After providing the students with laptops and showing them how to use the interenet, eventually all of the students scores went up by huge percentages, math as much as 40%.  A teacher at the school there says that multitasking is a huge part of what a student should learn how to do and the principle says that the world is growing faster than todays schools are.  But where is the line drawn for too much technology? 
      In one case we see that technology is extremely beneficial to students where in another it is extremely detrimental.  I feel that the case with all of this technology is how many distractions the technology brings about.  For instance, when the public school in the bronx gave its students their laptops, they created a firewall preventing them from getting onto distracting sites like youtube or facebook.  This I believe is the key. If education systems would be able to limit what their students can access on the internet then there would be less distractions.  However at a place like MIT, this is a tough task to accomplish.  Even if administration tried to block off certain things that students could access, at least half of them would probably be able to hack their way through the firewall anyway.  Let's face it, they do go to MIT.
      In conclusion I feel that the diminishing returns on technology come about when it presents too many distractions away from the task at hand, which today is almost all of the time in most school systems.  If we can find a way to limit these distractions, then we can find a way to get a better education with a little less technology.