Focus

On my typical bus ride to school, kids spend the majority of the time scrolling on their phone before school starts. Instead of laughing at each other’s jokes, they laugh at their phones with their friends beside them, and even stare at them as they are walking up to the school together. Some kids have become addicted to the entertainment that cannot resist turning off their devices inside the classroom. They would play video-games on their laptops in class and are punished with long detention times and scoldings from not paying attention. Some of their classmates cannot turn their eyes away. Technology has become an extension of our hands but they are making it harder for all of us to focus. In ensuring deep, sustained focus, I have a few tips to aid you, even if you are surrounded by tempting and shiny screens.

Firstly, go outside and spend more time in nature! If you spend more time outside, you feel more gratitude and appreciation to sharpen your focus. In an Australian Study, Students who looked at a flowering green roof for 40 seconds made fewer mistakes on a computer task than students who looked at a concrete rooftop.  In all, spending time in nature relaxes the brain and calms the mind, offering a break from our over-stimulating screens. 

Secondly, limit the amount of time you have on your phone. In order to achieve this, let your parents or guardian set restrictions and time limits on apps and devices! If you're the guardian here, you can set your child’s screen time on their phone and on their computers. According to Australian guidelines, the recommended screen time for high school students (aged 5-17) is no more than two hours per day of sedentary recreational screen time, excluding time spent on schoolwork. Exceeding this recommended time will cause eye strain, lazy eye, myopia and dry eyes, which makes focussing on difficult tasks all the more challenging. According to Neulinehealth.com, a study was made which proves how apps like Instagram, Tik Tok and Snapchat can hinder our attention spans. Social media makes our brain overstimulated, so refrain yourself from downloading these apps which can bombard you with addictive content. 

Thirdly, follow the recommended sleep time for high schoolers, which is around 9-12 hours per night!  On average, high schoolers have a lower attention span due to an overstimulation of short form videos and ‘brain rot’ content. ! By sleeping more, the brain restores itself, information learnt throughout the day is stored and it keeps the prefrontal cortex healthy. According to a Harvard Health study, when people don’t get enough sleep, their attention span and concentration abilities decline. This makes them less attentive, have a slower reaction time and they don’t react well to natural environments. 

With innumerable sensationalistic videos all over the internet, the ability to focus is a superpower. To harness these powers, spend more time in nature away from the screen and get sufficient rest. Will you become a hamster on a wheel trapped in an endless loop of pointless content or will you be a sharpshooter, a marksman or a scrupulous soul.