After the first part of my midterm today I came home to catch up on a few of my shows to take a mental break. As I was watching Grey’s Anatomy I caught myself looking at my social medias on my phone in the middle of the episode. I realized that I was watching Grey’s, but not actually watching. The show was no longer grabbing my full attention. Then I became a little disappointed in myself because I checked my social medias during the show rather than during a commercial. Now I was going to have to sit and be bored through the commercials and I brought it on myself.
At first I took a step back and made a solid effort to give the tv show all of my attention. I figured if I practiced this often I could work on extending my attention span and be less susceptible to distractions. I wanted to make a solid conscious effort to try and control my brain more in informal moments like watching tv so that it would be easier to avoid distractions when studying or doing homework. In addition, I would allow myself to pick up my phone on commercials, which made me plan when I would allow myself to get distracted. I think this would be a useful tool when studying. It would force me to take small timed breaks while studying, which I often normally avoid. I think I avoid study breaks normally because I am bad about bringing myself back to my studies and a five minute break turns into twenty. I think trying this new strategy would make my studying more productive. I have the second part of midterm on Monday, so this weekend will be full of studying. I’ll test out this new strategy and see how it works out. Also, side note, can it even be considered a midterm if they’re week 7 and 8? I also have one week 9. I’ve been having one to two midterms every week since week 3 and I’m over it. And just right there I got distracted from this blog with a rant about school. I probably shouldn’t let my mind linger on frustrating topics for my own sanity in this sleepless, delirious time.
I’ve noticed I have the same issue you have with losing interest during television shows, specifically sports. I tend to text my friends in the middle of a play while watching football that leads me to believe I also have a short attention span. The very thing I went home to watch and chose to view on my television no longer interests me or is not enough to capture my undivided attention. I guess this comes from the need to be constantly entertained or immersed with the amount of information we have access to with modern technology. I’ve previously attempted to allow myself short breaks while studying, just as you plan on doing, and I’ve noticed they do actually help if you can manage to actually keep them short. I usually just stand up and walk around or browse the internet for a short amount of time just to try and do something I find enjoyable before going back to the boring assignment I have to do. I would definitely encourage you to make it a habit to give yourself short breaks and see if it has a positive effect on your study habits.