Most teachers believe search engines like Google are beneficial to their students, but they also think those same Internet research tools are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans," according to a new study released Thursday.

Educators around the country are worried that digital technologies "do more to distract students than to help them academically," according to the Pew Research Center's report on "How Teens Do Research in the Digital World."

But the study also showed that teachers, whether they were tech savvy or not, realize they have a greater role than ever in getting students to think more critically and to conduct more thorough research instead of just relying on Google or Wikipedia.

And that's a lesson that even adults can learn, said Lee Raine, director of the Pew Internet Project.

"The basic mantra is to figure out a way to exploit the good and minimize the bad" of the Internet, Raine said.

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