Students
Avoiding Distractions using E Games
Avoiding Distractions.
In February 2009 Time Magazine published an article about Doodling and it’s usefulness in the ability to pay attention. Here is a quote from that article: “Doodling, in contrast, requires very few executive resources but just enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, which — if unchecked — will jump-start activity in cortical networks that will keep you from remembering what’s going on.” During my undergraduate years I often doodled in class and it did help me listen much more attentively to what was happening class but as the educational sphere has changed and so has the medium for my classroom experience I have had to find other ways to avoid such distractions.
While in a distance classroom, there are many distractions, instant messaging, general internet browsing, sorting emails are just a few. Generally when I am just trying to pay attention and am not taking notes (because the class and notes are often available after class is over) I will get sleepy. To avoid this I have been playing an egame called Bubble Spinner from time to time.
I am not really a big gamer so outside of being in a situation where I need to pay attention I never play or think to open up this game. My essential motivation for playing this game where I am just breaking bubbles until I get to none, is to avoid other distractions that might occur and keep my mind alert enough to pay attention. It seems a bit silly to me to play this game when I’m not doing something else in fact, often it remind
s me of Bejewled another one of my favorite pass time games that I play while w
aiting for something on my mobile device.
This motivation factor of avoiding distractions or being able to do something so mindless it keeps our mind from wandering is not always thought about but critically important in some of our day to day operations where we have to pay attention for longer than 10 minutes or the next commercial break. Other games that fit this are Tetris, but that is timed which becomes problematic when I need to pause to pay attention to something. And while I love word games and Sudoku I realize that would take attention away from my actual class as it would require thinking.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I’m a doodler too, so I can relate to your piece. I do find that it helps me concentrate on class rather than my own daydreaming. (Let’s hope Marcie’s not offended in 795A!) It’s an ADD tendency. Now I’m curious to see if Bubble Spinner and Bejeweled have the same effect.
December 5th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Well I started playing Bubble Spinner. I found it interesting yet frustrating at the same time. I was able to get over 100 points on my fifth or sixth try. I can see that it can be mind numbing allowing for you to focus on someone else at the same time. As for doodling I used to do that a lot when I was in high school. I found myself doing it when I was not very engaged with the lesson. Thank you for sharing these quick easy games to play.
December 5th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
I really enjoyed your post. I agree with you thoughts. I hate shopping in the mall so when we go, I find a seat and start playing Brick Breaker on my Blackberry. I was just playing in the mall a few hours ago. It’s a mindless pinball type of game. I just realized I had Suduko also, and I tried playing it (I’ve tried it once before) and I found I had to think a little, so I stopped playing.
This reminds me of the wooden game they have on the tables of some of the restaurants like Cracker Barrel, where you have to jump over plastic pegs and then remove the peg and try to have the least amount of pegs left. I love that game along with checkers.
I am glad that now I know of at least one other person who likes these non-thought games. I thought I was AD&D. Thank you.
December 7th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I hadn’t heard that doodling or simple egames can keep your mind from wandering, but I did try it in a meeting recently and it worked wonders! Amazing that a little activity on the side will keep you focused better than trying to pay attention nonstop.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I have, apparently, what they call adult-onset ADD, because I am highly distractable and need complete silence when I REALLY need to concentrate, but when I have to stay well-behaved in staff meetings, I sit at the back and do a bunch of unrelated mundane tasks on my laptop that don’t require a lot of thought.
I check my e-mail. I check Twitter. I check Facebook. I check my other e-mail. Sometimes I answer a question or respond to a comment while I am otherwise fully engaged in the meeting. Without these “distractions,” I am likely to become a distraction to others during the meeting.
Why is this? I think it is because my mind is hyperactive, always coming up with new stuff no matter what I am doing. Sometimes this means I can’t get to sleep at night, or if I do, I have very strange dreams while I do sleep. It means that if you make me sit through a meeting with nothing else in front of me, I will say things that break up the decorum. I may get myself in trouble.
Really, I’m safer for myself and everyone else if I have something to engage all the other parts of my brain that would be vying for my attention.
December 7th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
You should see my notebook for class and staff meetings. I am an avid doodler to the point that if I don’t doodle I get bored or fall asleep too.
There’s a similar game to the Bubble Spinner that I enjoy playing on my husband’s cell and it is annoyingly addicting and just as mindless. We are both motivated to play because we want bragging right for the highest score. Competition is a powerful motivator!
December 8th, 2009 at 1:44 am
I did not know playing a game on the side could help you concentrate better. My experience is that my mind switches to that side activity and l lose track of the main activity.