A recently conducted research revealed that the typical time a 10-year old child could focus on a task is 10 minutes. In a world of scrolling and endless digital content, this should be one of the most discussed issues today.
According to ‘The Standard’, “Social Media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are designed to make our brains adapt to only receiving small and short forms of media at once”. This accounts for the rise of reels and ‘shorts’, as they are now called. Such short forms, when viewed for a long time, result in a person being incapable of paying more than 10 minutes attention to any content, written, oral, or task-based.
This is surely not productive for anyone, much less young learners who need to be trained to stay focused for a longer period of time. Being quickly distracted means that there has been no opportunity to think, apply, or learn from an idea.
It is not only young people who suffer from attention deficit. Companies are now commonly complaining that they are not able to retain workers who are constantly looking for more stimulation and more variety. They are likely not going to stay in one job for long.
It is not just nostalgia to ask for concentration and sustained attention. We may hark back to a time when we would savour a book over a weekend, reflect on it and discuss it with others before stacking it at the back of our minds. But innovations and creative ideas have come because of such sustained and focused work, not by pursuing momentarily fashionable ideas.
It is almost too late to stop the relentless power of social media, but not completely. It is imperative that we recognise the enormity of this reality and come up with quick fixes. The responsibility for this falls on all of us – parents, teachers, guardians, mentors and employers.
But most importantly, this needs to start at home. Parents need to be at the vanguard of ensuring that children spend productive time away from digital devices that over stimulate the brain and ensure passive consumption. This can easily be done by engaging kids with outdoor activities and indoor games.
Creating small, enjoyable post-reading activities like drawing or writing about favourite characters also ensures that children spend more time away from simply watching to actually creating.
A time-tested strategy is to simply identify one interest that a child may have – including crafts, music, cooking, or sports. Think of the number of ways this passion could be encouraged. This could include calling over friends to collaborate, creating small crafts to be exhibited in the family, or giving the child a simple dish to make. All of this will make a child concentrate on a real task and benefit from encouragement by family and friends.
If there is one task this summer, it should be to take children away from digital devices and teach them the benefits of engaging with the real world in ways that are fun and productive.
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