*Focus Attention Span Average: 8 seconds.
*Sustained Attention Span Average: 20 minutes.
How long can you focus?
As I was doing research for a new curriculum project today, I came across this blog “What We Share and What We Don’t” by Nina Froriep. She posed a fascinating question: In an age where media outlets have to shed more information than it actually shares, how important is what gets left on the cutting room floor? And even more crucial: why are we pandering to shorter attention spans by making both news and entertainment shows shorter and shorter when that just feeds the problem?
This is a scary thought. We have less information being shared in a world where the Internet should have given us the opportunity to break down all barriers to information, and therefore education. Instead, I would go as far as saying it’s currently crippling us because the Internet holds up two paths: the easy way and the actual learning way. For example, when you are faced with a translation problem for your language class – are you going to look up just the one word you can’t remember as you complete the assignment, or are you going to sign onto Babelfish and have it translate the whole thing for you? As you read Shakespeare, will you sit and struggle with the text and make connotative connections to words, or are you going to read Sparknotes?
Most students these days are doing what busy adults are doing, they are using the Internet to save time. This isn’t wrong entirely since we do live in a very demanding, fast-paced society. However, we need to start paying attention to what these new devices are doing to us. When youtube can be set up to play just a one minute clip of a show, or when the news becomes about the 30 second sound byte, we are lowering our ability to take in a lot of information at once. As a result, current generations not only don’t have the same formative educational struggles prior generations had, but they also don’t have the patience to deal with a minor obstacle to completing an assignment. If we don’t develop strategies to cope with (or better yet, improve) their shorter attention spans, we aren’t allowing them to have true learning experiences.
This means in order to keep education engaging, we need to work on ways to develop student attention spans, and we must create programs that foster an intrinsic academic spirit. At my current school we have experimented with giving out movie tickets for students with improved attendance. I strongly believe this is like putting a band-aid on BP’s oil spill. It will allow for temporary improvement, but will not solve any long term issues. The answer instead comes from developing a partnership with the local community to value education. I think we need fun programs at local libraries (for all ages) and more advertising about existing programs! It’s very important that students are taken at a young age to library programs because an early love of reading eliminates half the battle high school teachers face. In addition, the pacing for reading should consistently increase as a school year progresses, and I believe a goal for reading must be sent home to parents. Often we see parents just at Parent-Teacher Night, but if we engaged parents in other academic after-school activities with their children, we would allow them to take a stronger role in where their child should be in their reading and writing. These are just a few ideas but feel free to message me with some of yours regarding attention span building or events that help foster an academic spirit. Hope to hear from you!
i dig this post. very topical.
check out this article from the nytimes a few days ago. it argues that the staccato stream of information we consume has changed our speaking patterns, making the word ‘so’ much more common. i’m not sure i buy it, though.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/22iht-currents.html
i think i forgot the link on my previous comment.
“It’s very important that students are taken at a young age to library programs because an early love of reading eliminates half the battle high school teachers face.” Absolutely, totally agree with this. You do face a struggle/problem here, however, as with all well intentioned suggestions/statements. There are those less fortunate who do not have the means to get their child to a library program and then there are those that cannot take their child to a library as much as they would dearly love to as many of these programs take place during the day when working people just cannot get there. I do however, agree, that parents should read to their children, or have someone read to their children if they cannot, to foster an early “love of reading” as opposed to sitting them down in front of a tv/video game/computer, etc. And don’t get me started on getting children outside to go for a walk, play, foster their imagination.
So, I’m reading this blog, while watching summary recaps of TV shows I didn’t have time to watch when aired, and online chatting with my sister using alphabetic phonetic abbreviations that are now de rigueur, all while playing computer solitaire, and so I repeatedly forgot what the blog was talking about (being so distracted) so I had to keep rereading it, which I so hate to do, so much so it’s not funny. So I was going to go to that NY Times link that the silly beer guzzling looking commentor tj mentioned but left no link for and then he did but I want to feel fully informed so I will have to get back to it after my news recap of the days stories is over. One of these days I hope to go outside and play but I’m worried the librarian next door will yell at me cause she is so mad at me. The town wants to raise my taxes so they can keep the library open but I voted against the proposition cause the kids can get their own kindles and tweet to each other about what books they so aren’t reading.