Does scrolling through Instagram hinder your learning ability?
It’s not very uncommon to find your mind wandering when it should be focused on something. According to a 2010 study, we spend 47% of our time thinking about something other than what we are presently doing while being awake. This widely impacts students in classrooms. Being able to concentrate and comprehend any discussion is the most important task for every student. But, the problem faced by the majority of the students in today’s ever growing digital world is their short attention span. Some psychologists claim that a student’s attention span is about 10 to 15 minutes long, yet most university classes last 50 to 90 minutes. Imagine the struggle of a student sitting in class and pretending to be focused while in reality they are zoning out.
How does this impact students?
This problem can be destructive for students as they won’t be intrigued to learn more and acquire knowledge. Reduced attention span along with other distractions such as being under pressure to make notes, prevents students from making the most of their classrooms. Most psychologists and educators unanimously agree that the ability to focus is essential for a person to attain their goals. A short attention span can have various negative effects on students such as
- Mediocre performance at school or work and inability to complete daily tasks
- Poor reading and writing skills
- Eye-hand coordination struggles
- Getting easily distracted
This leads to students being present in a classroom while the mind wanders around the entire globe! In a 2007 literature review, psychologists Karen Wilson and James H. Korn found that student’s note-taking generally declines over the duration of a lecture. This affects them later during revisions as they cannot recall what was taught and they do not have completed notes.
How to get rid of this dire situation?
This issue can be effectively solved if students don’t have to focus on more than one thing, for example, if they are asked to only be attentive in class while their notes can be ready via an automated device. There is a great chance their mind would refrain from going astray. This is an advantage in many cases as they can pay undivided attention in classrooms. Since students have to face many challenges while coping up new information everyday, automated note-making could thus prove to be super effective and stress-free for every student.
LecturePro is one such app that provides AI generated notes for every student’s convenience. This also helps every student to achieve their desired outcomes faster — by making their lecture more productive and helping them to extract more value from their sessions.
Syeda Wardha Nazia,
Content Head