Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It

by James M. Lang (Basic Books, 2020)

An Ancient Struggle

Distracted explores attention and how it occurs, or fails to occur, in the modern classroom. Lang takes pains to establish that humans have struggled with distraction since the earliest times of scholarship. Writers from bygone eras described the seemingly modern phenomenon of "driving on autopilot." Distraction from internal sources (thoughts, emotions, physical sensations) and external sources (sounds, unwelcome visitors) has been part of human life through the ages.

Rethinking Tech Policy

Technological distraction is a recurring theme throughout the book. Lang discourages a "laissez faire" classroom tech policy, since devices are such powerhouses of distraction. A "total ban" is also discouraged, largely because some students rely on devices for disability accommodations, and others would have accommodations on file if obtaining them were not so difficult. Instead, Lang advocates a student-led policy, or one that applies or lifts restrictions depending on the classroom activity. This quarter I have asked students to minimize device use, reasoning that it makes them present to interact with each other and puts their focus on building their own proficiency and skill rather than on what the device can show them.

Attention Is About Difference

The mind attends to novelty ("Attention is about difference"), so Lang recommends "signature attention activities" used throughout the term to shake things up and reawaken attention. These need not be sensational; they can resemble mindfulness exercises, such as looking at a familiar concept in a new way or reading to each other very slowly. I once sliced an onion in class to demonstrate finding volume by slices. Although I would plan a less disgusting version of this demonstration next time (perhaps a sweet onion), it certainly made an impression.

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