Students are constantly getting distracted in today’s society, and it isn’t merely their fault. Everything everywhere is constantly filled with attention catching details, from televisions, laptops, mobile phones and even constant chatter around us. All these devices have shortened the attention span of children around the world and it is ever so imperative for students to understand this and gather their attention. Without further ado, here are four ways to improve the concentration for students.
Music
According to countless of research, music is one of the most tried and tested methods of increasing concentration levels amongst students. It’s obvious to see even, simply take a look in the library of a random university in Singapore and you will see almost everyone with their headphones in, studying furiously. More specifically, many research has been done on the effects of listening to classical music such as Mozart, while studying, proving that that genre of music is better than that of background noise. Results still remain varying when it comes to music genres though, with the personality of a student being the ultimate deciding factor as to which kind of music works best for concentration.
Working Away from The Bedroom
Everyone student should follow this rule by heart and take it seriously. The problem with many students is that their study room is usually their bedroom and this could not be any more unproductive. When you work or study in the bedroom, your mind would subconsciously put you in the mood to rest. It doesn’t help either when you feel sleepy and a bed is readily available to you. Find instead a place that is away from your bedroom, somewhere where you’re unfamiliar with. This could be a local library, Starbucks or even your school compound. The key here is to make sure your brain is adjusted to the place and thinks “study time” every time you’re at the place.
Identifying And Removing Distractions
This is probably the easiest step to increasing a student’s concentration and can be achieved almost instantaneously. Finding and removing distractions such as your phone can be a huge help in increasing one’s concentration immediately. It takes about 25 minutes for one to refocus their attention completely after getting distracted. Now imagine you’re constantly receiving messages on your phone, between intervals of less than 25 minutes. You’ll never be able to get any quality work done this way! Other distractions in your vicinity could include physical clutter around you, email notifications and friends chattering around you. If you can’t remove the distractions around you, try to mask them off like wearing headphones when you’re studying or moving to a different study venue altogether.
Breaking Up Tasks in Smaller Pieces
Finally, research has shown that people often lose their concentration in a task after 25 minutes of intense concentration. With that being said, it could be useful if you break up your periods of concentration into blocks of 20 to 30 minutes and take a short break in between. It’s not only productive in the long run but will prevent you from burning out during a study session.