Teaching focus in an age of distraction

This article is authored by Craig Cook, founding principal, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Gurugram.

A few years ago, classroom distractions were things like whispering, passing notes or just staring at the birds outside a windowpane. Today, distractions are due to notifications, endless scrolling, and short videos that are replaced by other videos in the blink of an eye. In a world where distraction is constant, attention has become one of the most valuable resources a child can develop.

Teacher (Canva)

Technology is not the problem. Imbalance is. Technology has changed the landscape of education by broadening the availability of information, allowing for collaboration and introducing new opportunities. The challenge lies in preventing children from disappearing down a rabbit hole of endless digital stimulation and losing their ability to think, concentrate and simply engage with the world around them.

This concern is reflected by recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data which shows that students who are often distracted by digital devices during studying do worse academically than those who are less digitally distracted.

Social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Anxious Generation, refers to this change as transition from a "play-based childhood" to a "phone-based childhood". Whether or not one agrees with his argument, it speaks to a fear that resonates for many educators. As screen time replaces unstructured play, and real face-to-face interactions, are children getting enough opportunities to imagine, create, explore, and just talk with each other? Technology gives children unprecedented access to information, but information in itself cannot and must not substitute the experiences which make a child develop empathy, confidence and curiosity.

This is where schools have a unique responsibility. Education has always been more than just a mechanism to convey information. It's always been about creating spaces that inspire curiosity, creative expression and learning is an active process not a passive one. It means designing classrooms where questions matter as much as answers, where students are not rote learning ideas but learning to discuss them, where collaboration is better than competition and where learning goes beyond the screen to laboratories, libraries, playgrounds and the wider community.

The most meaningful learning happens when digital innovation and real-world experiences come together. Technology, for example, can help bring history alive through the use of immersive simulations, help make abstract concepts more malleable, and open doors to knowledge beyond the four walls of a classroom. Similarly, there are lessons that can be learned better through human interaction and lived experience. The science experiment that went wrong teaches resilience. A theatre performance builds confidence. A debate trains students to listen as much as it teaches them to speak. The strongest learning environments are not those that choose between technology and traditional learning, but those that strike the right balance between the two.

It is a way of thinking that is becoming increasingly prevalent among global educators. According to UNESCO, technology should enhance learning, not disrupt the relations, interactions and experiences that are inherent to the learning process. Technology will work best when used alongside the process of teaching, but not as its centre.

Wellbeing and attention are highly interconnected. A student who is anxious and disconnected from the learning process will not truly engage with what he or she is trying to learn. When students feel they are safe and valued, they will be more willing to engage into the process, take risks and persevere when things get tough. This is one of the factors that makes it possible to learn effectively.

There is no doubt that the need for digital skills will only increase in the years to come. But so will the need to be able to concentrate, think independently, form relationships and solve problems with wonder and perseverance. These are qualities that no device can develop on its own, but which every good school can help to foster.

In a world that is constantly trying to capture children’s attention, perhaps the greatest gift a school can give is not just knowledge, but the space to focus, think deeply and connect meaningfully with the world around them.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Craig Cook, founding principal, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Gurugram.