How to Increase The Attention Span in Kids?
Humans defeated by a goldfish!
Are we on the verge of retrogressive evolution?
Attention span is, in simple words, the continuous-time interval for which you can hold a thought in your mind. And this seems to be decreasing these days, owing to unhealthy lifestyles — addiction to social media, smartphones, and almost no physical activity. Now ‘physical activity’ reminded me of yesterday’s incident. I was on the way to the gym and was late as usual (nothing to be proud of, I guess). I was almost there, had to cross the road and walk past the bakery, and would have… Ohh! That bakery is a century old. Isn’t that amazing? Their truffles are so delicious, as soft as cotton. Hey! have you ever eaten those cotton candies? When those pink balls melt in the mouth, just like ice cream on the cones… you know, there’s a constant threat of melting of the polar ice caps due to the rising temperatures…wait. I had to share an incident, right? Well, where was I?
Now, this is what a short attention span looks like. And this is, threateningly, becoming shorter day by day. According to Microsoft's study, the average human attention span has decreased from 12 (in 2000) to 8 seconds. Interestingly, a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds, more than that of humans! Does that mean that now the goldfish would be the favourite student of teachers?
Why is it so?
The inflow of information has increased significantly. Our minds are constantly engaged with the information that is hurled at us from all directions. The beep of the phone acts as a trigger. Social media notifications, texts, emails, tweets, ads, uploads and more, are the stimuli onto which our brains get hooked. This leads to a craving for more information. We want to be updated with all the recent happenings and the ‘breaking news’ worldwide. In the words of Philipp Lorenz-Spreen of Max Planck Institute for Human Development, who participated in a study by the Technical University of Denmark , “Content is increasing in volume, which exhausts our attention and our urge for ‘newness’ causes us to collectively switch between topics more regularly.”
And this further leads to paying less attention to one particular thing for a long. We are very easily distracted. And thus, we have acquired such short attention spans. I bet some of you might not even manage to read till the end unless you take it as a challenge. Why do I say so? According to wyzowl, users will read at most 28% of the words on the average web page during a visit, with 20% a more likely expectation. The average page visit lasts less than a minute, and users often leave web pages in just 10–20 seconds.
However, when watching web series, they can stay hooked for long hours at a stretch. What an irony! (Hope your boss doesn’t read these statistics, especially if you find it troublesome to concentrate in an hour-long business meeting when he is putting up presentations). It seems that the showers of content in which we drench ourselves each day is forcing us to become more selective about what we devote our attention to — and Prezi’s research backs this up.
What are its effects (or possibly ill effects)?
It is obvious that short attention spans may lead to less focus on activities of vital importance, including studies.
Teens are often seen nowadays, lost in their own world, oblivious to their surroundings. Moreover, this leads to a lack of concentration, and hence, it is becoming difficult for students to sit for studies. Within five minutes of studying, they’d feel like checking their mobiles or would want to take a break. This also leads to a lack of interest in doing tasks or participating in activities. This proves detrimental to their development.
What’s the solution?
(Solute + solvent. Simple?)
Now, on a serious note, this is indeed a matter of concern. And thus, here are a few ways in which you can try to increase the attention span of your kids.
- Move those muscles
Physical activity not only keeps your body fit and healthy but also refreshes the mind and keeps it active. Take some time out for active play and let them jump, hop, shake or dance!
- Take breaks
Research proves that breaking up study or work sessions into smaller parts yields better results than long continuous sessions. Therefore, remember to let them take small breaks in between. The Pomodoro technique has become quite famous recently. In software design, this technique is also practiced in pair programming and can help the kid focus.
- The KISS principle
No, not that. KISS means Keep It Simple, Stupid! This refers to breaking every task into manageable fragments and solving them logically. Even a large elephant is ultimately made up of cells, small cells, which aren’t even visible with the naked eye. Similarly, every seemingly complex task is made up of simple units that, when dealt with separately, are a lot easier to solve.
- ‘Teaching’ to be attentive
Engage your kids in simple activities like sitting quietly with their eyes closed and listening to all the sounds around them. And then maybe, remove one source of sound, and let them notice it and find what is missing. This helps to be more attentive and focus better.
- Remove distractions
When the mind isn’t in a mood to learn, it can be distracted by literally anything. Therefore, make sure that when there’s a task at hand, keep the clutter away.
Often it is seen that a messed up study table doesn’t allow children to focus on the task. Therefore, ask your kids to keep their tables and rooms clean and properly organized (this would also help you to save your own time picking up after them!).
- Memory games
Memory games help to increase focus and concentration in a fun way. Simple games like matching cards or I-spy, spot the difference, and Uno can be beneficial.
- Coding
Another activity that can doubtlessly help in increasing the attention span of your kids is coding. Allowing your kids to create their very own apps, games, and software will enable them to have a completely different perspective about STEM education and coding. They will themselves want to be focused in order to turn their dreams and ideas into incredible technological realities.
At Turing Ninjas, we provide such engaging courses to learn coding in a fun way and build their own 2D and 3D games. Click here for more information.
- A balanced diet and proper sleep
Make sure that your kids eat a balanced diet every day so that they can get the required nutrition. Also, ensure that they get proper sleep. This helps to relax their mind and keep them active.
A longer attention span and better concentration ensure fewer errors and thus more efficiency, which is a very important skill of this digital age. Thus, though multitasking may be considered good, it is also important to be able to focus on one particular thing for the specified time period when the need arises.
We hope that the tips and methods we provided above would help you increase your kids' attention span in an easy and effective way. Stay tuned for more such articles!
Hey, so you did reach till the end! You were determined to prove me wrong, right? Congratulations on having a great attention span! :)
