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English Detective # 116 Attention: How to Focus on What’s Important October 16, 2018 |
#116 Attention: Focus on What’s ImportantFrom new research on barn owls that might help kids with ADHD to the best strategies for paying attention in class (and an experiment banning cell phones during a talk—to avoid distracting everyone there, not just the phone checkers), here’s help when you need to focus. (There’s also a crossword puzzle to practice related vocabulary.)
Does Your Cell Phone Distract You?That’s not an accident. Smartphones are designed to keep you scrolling for “one more quick check” and then another. Advertisers pay a lot to try to get our attention—and almost every app and feature of our phones is designed to hold onto it. That’s a problem when you have something else you need to focus on, or when you’re trying to listen to someone.This article discusses an experiment at a TED talk. There had been so many people checking their phones at earlier talks that it was not only unfair to the speaker (!), but also a distraction to the people who were trying to listen. So, the TED organizer notified the audience in advance that no one would be permitted to bring a phone to the talk. The surprising result was that almost all the participants loved it! Many of them had not liked the idea of leaving their phones, but they enjoyed the talk so much more that they wanted to repeat the experience! How to Pay AttentionThis longer article by Wikihow explains the best methods for paying attention 1) when focusing on a task and 2) when listening to someone. It also has suggestions for ways to increase your ability to focus over time. It offers practical solutions to common distractions. As it points out, focus is a skill you can learn. “You can train your brain to stay aware”—and the benefits are well worth the effort.For Students: How to Prepare so You Can Focus in ClassFinally, if you are a university student needing more help to pay attention to difficult lectures, there’s an even longer but helpful article specifically on preparing to concentrate in class. It offers detailed preparation strategies, including close study of your textbook beforehand, notetaking suggestions, and other ways to be prepared to focus intently during the lecture.
Vocabulary Practice: AttentionA quick note: in English the verb for directing your attention is to ‘pay attention to’ someone or something. Its meaning is similar to ‘focus’ as a verb. We don’t say ‘put attention’ and rarely say ‘give attention,’ although you can ‘turn your attention to (or toward)’ something, or ‘focus your attention on’ it.It’s important to use these exact expressions (collocations). If you use other verbs (or prepositions), it will sound strange to English speakers. You can practice the main vocabulary in these articles with a crossword puzzle on attention. Its answers are here. The next issue will talk about some lesser-known Thanksgiving history, including the reasons why Lincoln first declared it a national holiday. Warmly, Catherine Simonton, EnglishHints.com P.S. If you don’t like to open links in emails, you can go to the EnglishHinks Back Issues page and open them there. It’s https://www.englishhints.com/English_Detective-backissues.html A note if you get gmail: Have you missed any issues of English Detective? if you find English Detective in your Promotions box, you can move it to your Primary box (if you want) by clicking on it and dragging it there, then clicking Yes when asked if you want to always get it in the Primary box. If you are not already getting English Detective, you can subscribe by completing the form here. (It's free!) Also, you can reach me by mail at 1752 Driftwood Drive, El Centro, CA 92243, USA. |
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