Helping Kids Teach Themselves To Avoid Distractions

Helping Kids Teach Themselves To Avoid Distractions

@LisaBerghoff

One of my favorite blogs is "Mind Shift: How we will learn," a product of Northern California's Public Media outlet KQED. One of their posts that came up in my Twitter feed this weekend was called "Age of Distraction: Why It's Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus." There have actually been a ton of studies done on this dating back to the 1970s. Some of my favorite pieces have come from Daniel T. Willingham, cognitive psychologist from the University of Virginia. Both the studies featured in the "Mind Shift" article and the ones from Willingham suggest that it is important for educators and parents to help kids learn how to manage distractions, especially distractions that are readily available to them on digital devices. This research, by the way, is one of the reasons I don't support the idea of simply blocking social media and other sites on school devices. That doesn't teach them discipline; it actually ignores the long term issue.

However, as you know, kids learn differently. Some of them require a little more direct instruction and a little more scaffolding of skills. StayFocusd is a free extension, available in the Chrome Web Store, that can offer a little assistance to kids who need it. One of the problems for some kids, and perhaps this director of instructional technology, is that they can get lost on distracting websites and not even know how much time they waste there. StayFocusd can help quantify wasted time and allow students to limit wasted time.

StayFocusd in the Chrome Web Store

The Nuclear Option

Once you add the extension to Chrome, you can set your own time limits on websites that might be distracting you from your real work. You can decide to enact the "Nuclear Option," which means, for instance, that you can set a specific amount of time that you are allowed to spend on Facebook. When that time limit is reached, Chrome will shut down that tab and the program won't allow you to navigate to the site again for 24 hours. You can also set an "active" calendar, meaning that StayFocusd will always manage your browser during school days, but on the weekends and during holidays, you can grant yourself a little more browsing time. For students who are afraid they might cheat and change the settings, there is a "Challenge" option. "If this option is selected, you will be required to complete a difficult -- but not impossible -- challenge before you are allowed to change any settings. This makes it inconvenient for you to change settings, therefore reducing the chances that you'll cheat" (StayFocusd settings page).

For some teachers, StayFocusd falls short of their ideal because it doesn't allow teachers or counselors to directly manage the student machines. However, I see that as a strength, because what we are really doing is providing the tools necessary for kids to teach themselves to be in control of their devices and their digital lives.

If there is a student you think could benefit from StayFocusd, please share it with them - and maybe their parents, too.