Why Looking at Screens is Ruining Your Concentration Skill

I often laugh at myself when I watch a certain movie on TV and I recognize the actor/actress' face from other movie but I don't remember the title of the movie. The thing I do that makes me laugh afterwards is trying to google that information by using my smartphone.

So I go to Wikipedia to find more information about that actor/actress. I read the filmography part, and there it is; I manage to help my memory to remember the title of the movie, thanks to Wikipedia. Then I recall my memory about the story from that movie that I have watched. So, when my brain is very busy thinking about that and googling from the smartphone, the movie on TV in front of me is playing.

I feel very ridiculous about that. It is like breaking my concentration from enjoying the movie in front of me. I don't blame my smartphone. I blame myself for placing it near me when I watch the movie. I blame myself for letting my brain recall the title of that actor/actress' other movie. What I should have done is to focus on the movie.

I remember what my teacher had told me long ago about what not to do when reading an English article. She asked me to never open the dictionary when I found some words that I didn't know the meaning. She said that I had to go on reading that article. I could open the dictionary to find the meaning of the difficult words after I finished reading it. I thought maybe she wanted me to guess the meaning of the words from the context while reading.

Then I can finally make a conclusion for myself about what her point is. It is for training my concentration skill. If I often pause when reading just to find the meaning of the difficult words from the dictionary, I will break my concentration. I will not enjoy my reading process.

So now, I try to avoid watching TV programs in which there are some commercial breaks. It means that I limit myself from watching the news, music programs, soap operas, movies on TV, especially national TV channels. Those channels will air their programs with more than five minute commercial breaks for every break. But I still enjoy a movie channel like Fox Movies Premium from cable TV. One whole movie has no commercial breaks on that channel.

Playing games on smartphones can develop our concentration skill? If it is offline, yes it can make us focus on playing and enjoying. But when it must be online, we don't really focus on playing the game because sometimes there is also some advertisement on the screen which will distract our attention.

When it comes to talking about social media and online shopping, those two screen activities are surely focusing on messing up my attention. The notifications of friends' activities on social media application or promotions of sale from an online shopping website can often make me check my phone.

Thanks to the facility of 'uninstall app' or 'disable app' from the smartphone. Right now I am mentally healthy without facebook. The online shopping is sometimes still a magnet for me. But I try to be strict to myself by telling that I don't really need the product that has made my heart beat very fast.

Therefore, if you would like to exercise your own concentration skill, just do anything you like without any distraction. For example, you can make a handicraft. Or you can read a simplified novel without any attempt to pause. Turn off your TV or personal computer and stay away from your smartphone while you are doing it.