Concentration, distraction, multi-tasking & college students
December 3, 2009
It’s easy to think that attention-deficit disorders are just the latest figment of our collective imaginations. The kids’ disease du jour. Something else to obsess about.
But this semester, more than any other, I’ve noticed something suspiciously like it at work among some of my students.
It manifests as an inability to concentrate long enough to master the subject matter. If I have the student come in for one-on-one help, and force him to sit and work on it, he’ll do fairly well. But when left to his own devices, it seems like he just can’t concentrate long enough to do a good job.
I’m certain that a big part of it is that kids today are just distracted. Hugely. Used to be that it was a big deal to do your homework with the radio on. Or TV. Now? They’re bombarded by information on all sides. Entertainment. News. Games. Email. Social Media. Texting. Cell calls. It’s no wonder they can’t concentrate.
Related to this is their need to do everything at once and their misunderstanding of “multi-tasking.”
Multi-tasking can only be done once you’ve mastered the task.
Learning can’t be done by “multi-tasking.” You can’t sit in class, listen, work on your homework at the same time and actually take much in. Not much that’ll stick.
Studies show that people who multi-task usually do everything less effectively.
The students who do well in my college classes are those who can actually sit and concentrate on the work at hand. They aren’t doing two or three other things at the same time. They don’t rush through it.
Successful adult life requires you to take enough time to think things through. And do it critically. To finish what you’ve started. And to master and demonstrate skills.
Given what I see on campus, I’m a little worried about how this will all play out in 20 years.
This is one of many complaints I have about kids today. 🙂 The parents of todays kids thought, stupidly, that having and doing it all was an honorable goal, and completely exhausted themselves to give this generation its million distractions.
…and it is not just an american problem. It is just highlighted there because EVERYTHING is more extreme in the USA.
Ok, I live the other extreme, but I hate trying to communicate with distracted people, in fact, I pretty much refuse to try anymore. One does not have to agree with me, but following a conversation without checking text messages or getting distracted by a passing car or whatever is a prerequisite now for me.
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Related to this is their need to do everything at once and their misunderstanding of “multi-tasking.”
This is one of many complaints I have about kids today. 🙂 The parents of todays kids thought, stupidly, that having and doing it all was an honorable goal, and completely exhausted themselves to give this generation its million distractions.
…and it is not just an american problem. It is just highlighted there because EVERYTHING is more extreme in the USA.
Ok, I live the other extreme, but I hate trying to communicate with distracted people, in fact, I pretty much refuse to try anymore. One does not have to agree with me, but following a conversation without checking text messages or getting distracted by a passing car or whatever is a prerequisite now for me.