Distractions, distractions, and even more distractions, all in one device. We all have one (well, almost all of us do), and we are all guilty of being distracted by them. The question is, how do we stop being distracted and focus on what is important?
This is a topic that I find myself right in the middle of at the moment. I teach young adults who seem to increasingly live their lives on their smartphones, and I myself am part of a start-up where I constantly need my smartphone to do business, post on social media or communicate with my co-founder.
I would not say I am distracted that often, although I do catch myself endlessly scrolling sometimes. I then ask myself, “What am I doing here?” and either put the phone down or start using it for something productive.
Unfortunately, I find myself repeatedly asking my students to leave their phones alone. Keep them in their bags or, even better, turn them off! However, it seems that for some students, this is far easier said than done. At times, it feels less like enforcing a classroom rule and more like asking someone to break a deeply ingrained habit. The temptation to pick up the phone seems almost impossible to resist.
Just for fun, I asked one particular student, who could not seem to stop randomly scrolling on their phone, whether they could manage not to touch or look at it for one minute. Just one minute. Leave it alone. Focus on the task.
“Of course I can do that,” came the reply.
OK, I thought, so then do it.
The phone was placed to one side, the pen was picked up, and it appeared that something positive was happening. However, it only took a slight turn of my head in another direction for a hand to reach out, unlock the screen and begin tapping and scrolling again.
When I pointed out that not even 15 seconds had passed, there was a grin, no eye contact, and the scrolling continued.
15 seconds. That was how long the phone had remained untouched.
Simple solution: take the phones away. Sounds easy. Try it.
The resistance can be immense. The excuses start to flow.
“I’m waiting for an important phone call.”
“My parents need to be able to call me.”
“I just need to check something.”
Some of these explanations may be genuine. Others are rather less convincing.
In this situation, my job is no longer to teach but to act as some kind of concentration police. Time-consuming, energy-sapping and, ultimately, rather futile.
And some students can be surprisingly creative. Two phones are brought in, one handed in and the other hidden under a jumper or textbook. Empty phone cases are handed in, with no smartphone in sight. Plus points for creativity, but I was not born yesterday.
Then we are back to trying to get them to relinquish their devices. The excuses flow again, and it becomes a battle of wills. One you may win today, but do you really want to go down this path again tomorrow?
I do not wish to categorise all young adults in this way. There are certainly students who can focus on their tasks and work without constantly reaching for their phones. But even then, once the task is finished, the smartphone often comes straight out.
Discussing the task with a neighbour does not seem to be as common as it used to be. Instead of exchanging ideas or comparing answers, students retreat into their own digital worlds.
The impact this has on learning is, in my opinion, considerable. Exchanging views on how you approached a task and what the outcome was is a great way of learning from others and, ultimately, checking whether you have reached the correct conclusion. If not, what a great opportunity to have a discussion, challenge an idea or learn something new.
And it is not just something I have noticed in my own classroom. According to the OECD’s PISA 2022 results, around 30% of 15-year-old students across OECD countries reported being distracted by digital devices in most or every mathematics lesson. That is a considerable number of students struggling with distractions during lessons, and it suggests that the problem extends well beyond my own classroom.
So what can we do?
Smartphones can certainly be used in class for good. Kahoot quizzes are a personal favourite of mine. Quickly looking up an unknown word or checking a translation can also be useful. Used appropriately, smartphones can be valuable learning tools.
But what about the rest of the time?
This is where the temptation to become distracted increases. And increasingly, the response seems to be to make lessons shorter, faster-moving and more engaging.
Shorter tasks, quick activities, constant interaction. Sure, it sounds great.
However, learners move at different speeds. Some need more time to think, process information and work through a problem. Not everything can, or should, be reduced to a five-minute activity designed to hold someone’s attention until the next one begins.
Think about it. If we are constantly adapting our teaching to accommodate shorter attention spans, how are we preparing students for working life?
Not all tasks take ten minutes. Not every task is exciting, engaging or particularly enjoyable. Much of working life requires thought, patience, persistence and time. There are reports to write, problems to solve, information to analyse and tasks that simply have to be completed, whether we find them interesting or not.
If we feed into the idea that everything has to be quick, entertaining and served up on a plate, then the reality of working life may come as a considerable shock.
There is also something to be said for learning how to deal with boredom, frustration and tasks that require sustained effort. These are skills in themselves, and they are skills students will need long after they have left the classroom.
Of course, this does not mean that lessons should be boring or that teachers should stop trying to engage their students. Quite the opposite. Good teaching should stimulate curiosity, encourage discussion and make students want to learn.
But surely there has to be a balance.
Perhaps the question is not simply whether students want to learn, but whether they can learn to manage the distractions constantly competing for their attention. After all, wanting to learn something and having the self-discipline to concentrate on it are not necessarily the same thing. I know that from my own experience with my smartphone.
As educators, we should certainly make learning interesting and engaging, but we also need to help students develop patience, persistence and the ability to concentrate when something is not immediately entertaining.
After all, isn’t preparing students for the realities of life and work part of our job?
Or should we all just start dancing on TikTok to get their attention?
Reference
OECD (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume II): Learning During – and From – Disruption. Chapter 3: Life at school and support from home.