Distracted: Why students cannot focus by James M. Lang

• Main Authors: WONG, Joax, HARTANTO, Andree
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Social Psychology; Social Psychology and Interaction
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3530; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4788/viewcontent/Distracted_Why_Students_Cannot_Focus.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Humans are easily distracted creatures. Our attention seems to constantly waver, shifting every second to different objects, sounds or stimuli. As we transition into adolescence, we start to hear the all-too familiar phrase that technology – smartphones, laptops, televisions and gaming devices – is an obstacle preventing us from reaching full productivity and sapping our attention. In Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, James Lang describes the oftentimes complicated and false conceptions about distraction and the part that technology plays in it. Currently, society places extremely high demands on students and expects them to be focused and attentive to lessons. Any wavering of attention is seen to be either the student’s fault for letting their mind wander, or technology’s fault for stealing their focus. From this perspective, teachers might feel that they have little control over their students’ attention, and that it is solely up to students’ willingness to pay attention. On the other end, students might feel that they are to blame for their poor grades that stem from their inability to channel their attention into lessons.