It's so hard to keep your mind on one task for even 15 minutes nowadays with all the media and other distractions around us. Students know what I mean: you pull up your assignment then check Twitter or Facebook, then look back up at your work and stare for a few minutes, and proceed to check social media again. It seems the only way to prevent it is for your phone to die while you are away from a charger, but that only means leaving the work station to find one.
Professionals also have the same problem with constantly being distracted by social media. In order to track smartphone usage and its effects, researchers surveyed 72 workers from various industries in South Korea. They were able to track the usage of users with an app that was specifically designed to measure how much time is spent on a phone during a workday. The app also separated the usage into 3 categories: social media, entertainment and leisure, and personal and informative.
The results shows that employees are happier when they are able to use their phones during the work day for leisure, which makes sense to me. The survey also revealed that workers only used their phones for leisure during the work day for about 20 minutes, and did not decrease productivity. 20 minutes is much less than I expected, but so be it.
If the use of the smartphone is properly regulated at the workplace or at school it can be helpful to allow people to take mental breaks between their work. I believe this can help students as well if they give themselves a set amount of time to be distracted instead of doing so every 5 minutes - take note professors!
check out the full article at http://mashable.com/2014/02/21/smartphone-use-increase-productivity/
This is so true. One of my biggest problems is procrastination. With most of my work being given online, it makes it fairly easy to become distracted. Even if I am not on the computer, I almost always have my phone on me. But the results of that study is very surprising. If only bosses and professors would allow this.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this blog because I am absolutely a victim of this practice. It is very difficult to focus when your phone is right next to you. You either have social media on your mind, waiting for a text or call, an email pops up, or you find an excuse to check it (like having a random urge to beat your high score on Flappy Bird).
ReplyDeleteThis article puts turns this rather frustrating practice into a positive outlook. I agree, taking a few minutes every hour to step away from your work and check out what is going on in the social media world relaxes me. It also gives me a small incentive to stay focused when I'm actually deeply invested in my work. 20 minutes a day is a relatively short period of time and in the long run, I think it may benefit people's production because they will have a few minutes here and there to recharge while they are aimlessly scrolling through feeds. Twitter, and other social media sites are very distracting, but they are also a great outlet and a quick break away, allowing someone to refocus when they dive back into their work.
That is definitely an innovative idea for professors to consider with students. I know with me, I am better off working straight through because I know when I take a break from work, I have an extremely difficult time getting back at it. I also know that technology is a big reason why that is the case.
ReplyDeleteThis could go either way. On one hand there are the focused, self-disciplined type of people who would work, take a quick break to check their social media, and get back to work. Then there are the lazy, unfocused workers who would use the access to their phone or computer as an excuse not to do the assignment or work project.
ReplyDeletePersonally I tend to be pretty scatter-brained, so being able to bounce back and forth between required work and Twitter keeps me more intently focused during the actual work time. Twitter specifically is full different perspectives and random topics and could potentially spark a new idea for what you are working on for class or work.
People tend to have their way regardless, so banning phone use from a class won't necessarily mean that students will keep them away. I've found that in classes that allow limited phone use (during activities, not while the professor is speaking), I actually have it out less than I do in classes that don't allow them at all. It must be the lure of the forbidden! This blog post was a great topic- relatable and relevant.