Focusing or paying attention at school has become increasingly challenging for a large number of students in this day and age. Why there has been such a phenomenon and what can be done to tackle this problem will be discussed in this essay.
Much is known about why students are increasingly distracted at school in recent years. One reason for students’ distraction at school is the presence of technological devices. To be specific, the use of mobile phones, tablets, or laptops is prevalently accepted in the classroom worldwide, with the waves of digital literacy. However, besides learning platforms, most digital devices are fully equipped with social media or entertainment applications, which can distract students with tons of pop-up notifications. This implies an adverse impact on learning, degrading students’ attentiveness and overall performance.
In addition, present-day students are under increasing pressure from parents and society to study much more than their capabilities. Scientifically, students aged between 6 and 10 are reported to have a relatively short attention span; as a result, they are able to pay the most attention within the first fifteen minutes. Being obliged to sit still studying for long periods of time fails to trigger their intrinsic motivation, thus eroding their physical and mental performance and concentration on a specific area.
Starting from the mentioned reasons, several solutions can be implemented to improve students’ concentration on their progress. Firstly, it is advisable to restrict the time allotted for using digital devices as well as guide them on how to make use of the silent mode during class time. In doing this, students are less affected by the allure of onboard applications. Secondly, schools can consider integrating more outdoor activities after periodic studying sections, which aim at boosting students’ both physical and mental flexibility. As a result, students will have enough time to recover their concentration and yield higher study efficiency.
In conclusion, distractions by technological gadgets and excessive learning could be taken as major root causes for students’ inability to pay attention to their learning. Several solutions, such as setting clear instructions on how much time and how to refrain from pop-up interruptions and including more physical activities besides in-class sitting time, have been proposed to tackle this phenomenon.