Social Media Distraction: It’s Not Just For Kids

A recent study that attempts to put some numbers against how distracting smartphones and social media are for children who are meant to be studying, will come as no surprise to most parents. The study of 1500 secondary school children revealed that over 60% claim to spend more time on their phones than they do studying.

I hear you kids. As someone who is studying for a master’s degree and trying to write a novel alongside other projects of which I am the instigator, judge and sole stakeholder, I know I would be truly ashamed to share the usage breakdown of my phone.

Here are some of the classic ways, I, a 48 year old, mother-of-two regularly slip shamefully into the zone of the distracted:

  1. The “Buying something is a productive task” trick

OK, this one probably doesn’t apply to kids, but for me on-line shopping is a sneaky mind trick. Not everyone likes shopping (which makes it a commendable chore by those standards). Buying something falls into the category of essential household tasks. It’s admin basically isn’t it? All that form filling, entering numbers etc. And I definitely needed another bottle of pink ink and a leg massager. It’s a massive to do list tick.

2. The ‘How can I not know what I would look like if I was a dog/vegetable/alcoholic drink quiz’ suck in

Reading ‘serious articles’ counts as making yourself more clever, doesn’t it?

Such quizzes are made to be ridiculously enticing. I bet you are already wondering aren’t you. (My answers: A chihuahua, runner bean, tequila sunrise… obviously). Imagine how interesting this must be if you revising for a maths exam?

3. The “Serious article, how can I not know that” reading digression

OK, these usually end up giving you a tasty teaser of a paragraph and then insist you sign up to something costing 5.99 a month forever. This leads to three other very necessary searches to find what you now can’t live without knowing. This one does come with the possibility of potentially being worthwhile.

4. The “It would be rude not to share a list of 50 things about me including my stance on whether pineapple belongs on a pizza” Facebook post necessity

Of course, pineapple doesn’t belong on a pizza, it belongs in a cocktail and an upside down pudding, but if it wants to go on a pizza, who am I to judge.

5. The “What did I originally come to Google to search for brainwash (recent searches show: ‘is lime juice good for you?’)

I think there is something about landing on the Google search page that makes your brain instantly revert to: OK what do I REALLY want to know; forcing your brain to forget the original question. The study shows that 34% of kids admit to getting side lined when google searching things for their schoolwork. (And yes, lime juice, apparently, is really good for you.)

6. The “Three videos later unintentional comedy binge’ – *that started with a TED talk

This lady likes shopping for white things while pretending she’s working

Now who wouldn’t deny a person the need to know the content of the all enticing TED talk, but then it will just automatically run into another – usually some incredible comedian that some TED driven algorithm knows that you will definitely love and then you’re sucked in for another 12 minutes. Stabilo’s research showed that 54% of kids surveyed watch YouTube videos while studying and 28% say their biggest distraction is TikTok – I daren’t even go there.

7. The ‘nasty Twitter argument with 67 comments’ rubbernecker

You can see a post that is going to get nasty. You leave it for a while and see that the storm has certainly ensued, comments may well have grown in an exponential way. Then there’s the need to screen grab the worst comments and send to a friend, thus creating a whole new stream of conversation, leading to…

8. The “I’ll just check to see if I’ve got any notifications” essential check

And we all know that’s another 10 minutes procrastination, 55% of kids interviewed claim to be checking Instagram for most of the day.

I’m left thinking, if this is me, the kids don’t really stand a chance. They have grown up in this world of constant, amazing content, apps and stimulus. Anything that can help with focus has got to be worth a look.

A spokesperson for STABILO who commissioned the study said, “Home learning is set to be the new normal for the next few months at least, and this study reveals just how distracted children can get when working from home. Unsurprisingly tech seems to be a big distraction”.

“There are simple techniques that will help teenagers focus and retain information while studying at home. Using colour is a perfect example: organise, colourise, memorise for success.”

  • Jackie Wilson

    Jackie started writing for Belle on her return to the UK after 3 years living in Kuala Lumpur. Formerly a Marketing Manager of British institutions such as Cathedral City Cheddar and Twinings Tea, she wrote columns and web content in KL for several local and expat magazines and sites and was a contributing author for the book Knocked Up Abroad. Jackie is now back on the expat beat living in Cincinatti, USA where she is engaged in a feast of writing projects while desperately clinging to her children’s British accents and curiously observing the American way.

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