focus compared to a goldfish whose attention span is 9 seconds.

Media Effects

media has 4.48 billion users captivated or even congenuine relationships while being miles apart. It proHowever, it also becomes a lifestyle that is hard for many distractibility, users’ attention span and level of focus have much of their time is actually being used. Certain accustomed to the short clips. Due to this, users can minute break can turn into an hour and a half. media being disposable. They are able to move on to a behavior carries on to everyday life. While the overall correlate with the decrease in attention span, the constant access needed information on the internet, therefore, retain taught information; they have just about everyhave an average of 25 connected devices thanks to the only form of communication and way to work was technology, not only in many’s everyday life, but school and functionality. This shows how dependent many are American teens use the app wth an average time of80 mindisconnect from their daily life and tasks, affecting them takes approximately 8 seconds to read. person is able to concentrate on a particular activity or Corporation, looking back to 2000, the average attention span percent. If you read for this long, are you able to follow decrease, its impact, and how to improve yours? attention span than a ways.

It is easy to become distracted, that is no secret. Many teachers have noticed that they can only hold a student’s attention for five to ten minutes before they return to their phone.

While Dr. Morelock, IB and honors chemistry teacher, has only been teaching for seven years, he has noticed that if students are not given a way to stay active during a lesson, they will turn to their phones.

“When I first started my teaching career, I mainly did lecturing for the whole class and that’s hard to hold anybody’s attention. You have to try and pepper in a lot more activity, questions, or keep the class interactive,” Morelock said.

Dr. Morelock is not the only teacher who has noticed this, but Mrs. Lee, AP literature teacher and literacy coach, has as well.

“Attention span is weird. If you’re trying to hold a group of students attention for ten minutes where you are talking the entire time, it is not possible. I have noticed that I can get up to twenty minutes when I break [the lesson] up into smaller chunks where students are listening actively, but they also can turn and talk to each other, then come and talk back to me.”

While teachers are not able to eliminate the use of phones and distracted talk altogether, they have found ways to keep students focused for as long as possible. However, outside of class, many students have realized their root of procrastination comes from social media.

“I tend to use my phone when I don’t know how to do the assignment or if I’m working on an assignment and get bored. It’ll end up being thirty minutes or an hour and I tend to lose track of time,” Helena Nebue (12) said.

Taking a quick break can soon become longer than anticipated due to the never ending blackhole social media is. However, this is not the case for everyone.

“I don’t get distracted in class because I know that I have a deadline to meet. I know if I don’t pay attention in class I’m going to have to do it on my own time, so I’d rather work in class than get on my phone,” Bella Russell (10) said.

How long technology users are able to solely focus on one thing affects them in many ways. A decrease in attention span leads to difficulty completing tasks. It can also lead the users to not being able to maintain relationships as it may be hard to focus on the conversation at hand as well as interactions. Now, students start to lose interest in things they once loved and feel a lack of pleasure.

“Freshman year I did a lot of sports like softball, swim, and golf. After freshman year I quit softball and then last year I quit swim because I lost interest in them and I didn’t enjoy them as much anymore,” Katherine Sundvik (12) said.

Feeling a lack of pleasure in things is known as anhedonia. While not everyone is diagnosed with it, anhedonia is a symptom of major depressive disorder, as well as other mental health issues. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this year, 44 percent of students reported that they felt sad or hopeless for two or more consecutive weeks. In 2017, this statistic was only 13 percent.

Planner Reduce Phone Use Cognitve Therapy

planner. overwhelming and helps remembering exactly what needs helps focus on what without the strain to appointment and

Reduce phone usage.

Take a few hours with a phone on silent or put it away to greatly increase time and attention. Without having the distraction of social media, the uninterrupted period of time can be used to be more productive.

Cognitive behavioral therapy.

in an effective way.