I’m a bit of a completer-finisher. It drives me nuts not to finish something before I move onto the next thing. It’s always been this way, and has meant that I’ve fought with a slight case of workaholism over the years. But the other day I was chatting to a very successful friend who has been having trouble concentrating. She works online and at home, and is very intelligent and hard working. I was shocked when she told me, quite casually, that everyone suffers from a level of device addiction. I was interested that she felt the need to install a programme on her computer which stopped her from looking at certain websites when she was working.
She had recently read Indistractable by Nir Eyal. He describes a slightly dystopian reality where distraction “worms its way into our lives”. But he also gives practical solutions for how to avoid the perils of procrastination. As a teacher who uses digital technology daily in the classroom, I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and judging this as an “anti-tech” knee jerk. I looked into the book a little more carefully.
According to Eyal, we are “living through a crisis of distraction” and it’s stopping us from realising our potential. Then he acknowledges, it’s not actually the apps and devices that are at the root cause. I breathed a sigh of relief. You see, I know of the profound impact that using a device effectively (yes, notice the highlighting of that important word) can have on students: how it can both accelerate and support. But I do also have times when students are not doing what they’re supposed to. We had this before devices, but it just seems unfairly more sinister nowadays.
Eyal talks about the need to understand the triggers of why we’re quick to be distracted: the escaping of something uncomfortable. I thought about my students: how easy it is for them to quickly tap into a game on their ipad and avoid the maths, literacy, science… tasks that I’ve set them: despite how “fun” I think I have tried to make them.
The strategies that Eyal gives are more adult suitable: jot down your feelings at the time of distraction and deal with these triggers, visualisation of your distractions floating away, reassessing your potential. As hard as it is for adults to attempt these things, it makes sense that we need to teach our students these strategies too but perhaps more at their level.
So here’s a few that I’m going to attempt with my students:
- Time tasking: setting a timer and working until it goes off.
- Setting a goal and breaking it into achievable chunks, so that you feel proud of what you’ve achieved.
- Making yourself have device free breaks by leaving it behind and simply going outside (no devices during break times, even on rainy days).
- Never eat while on your device: make this a firm rule, along with this one…
- No devices an hour before bed. Read a book!
- Spring clean your home screens and folders. It’s harder to be focused if you’re constantly swiping past tempting apps: hide these little monsters in a folder.
- Model all these things to the students, including talking aloud so they can hear you work through distraction.
- Finally: create an environment where students can be proud of their indistractability.
The irony is that these strategies also work for a workaholic too. And finally a great app function for the ipad: Using the Focus feature.
You can set up Focus profiles:
- You can adjust your notifications so that only certain ones come through.
- You can customise your home screen to get rid of distractions.
- You can even set this on a schedule: between 9am and 3pm.