Today’s students’ attention spans are continually growing shorter. They find themselves paying more attention to their phones, their friends, the newest movies coming out,  and who’s dating who, instead of their academics, and even those thing don’t hold their attention for very long. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, in 2000 the average attention span was 12 seconds; another study in 2013 stated that the average attention span had gone down to eight seconds, which is one second below a goldfish. That’s right, we now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. Students need to pay more attention to academics and less on other things.

  If students pay more attention to their academics, those who don’t test well could improve their testing abilities. While it is perfectly understandable that some students just do not test well, possibly because of the pressure, the little extra time donated to preparation and studying can help the student to feel better about taking the test. So by the time the test comes, students feel less stressed. Studies also show that students who spend more time studying can learn more study habits that work best for them. For example, some students can read over things and then visualize the material in their head come time for the test. Others find that copying down the notes multiple times helps their brain to remember that material a lot better than just skimming through one time.

   Students paying more attention to academics could also help with their self-confidence. Students can realize that they might be good at something that they never thought of. Knowing that they are good at something really gives a person a sense of self worth, but students would never know they were good at anything if they didn’t pay attention to it. Athletes are a very good example because they know they are good at the sport they play because they have put time, effort, and practice into that sport. The feeling of self-confidence encourages them to want to do better and be better.

  Students who pay more attention in class are more likely to be open-minded because they are so much more willing to learn. This aids in a person’s social skills, also. Their willingness to learn makes them better listeners than a person who is more closed off to learning and accepting other people’s viewpoints, though, just because they accept the opposing person’s viewpoints does not mean the have to agree with them. Paying more attention to school and academics can help a student to develop their own viewpoints and even have the evidence the back them up with the information that they conclude and learn.

  Now some people would say it is perfectly understandable that students need friends, sports, movies, and everything else that keeps them occupied. After all, everyone needs a friend, right?  But, we have our entire lives for friends and movies, right now is the time to focus on school and then college, and find out what we want to do with our lives. It may sound scary just thinking about it but what’s really scary is waking up one day without a job and you’re struggling.

  To fix this issue, students should start with taking just an hour out of their afternoons after school just to sit quietly and study. On weekends, it may be wise to take two hours to do this. They would probably be surprised at how much it would help. Eventually, this process could help a student to explore new possibilities and find out exactly what they want to do.

  There are endless possibilities and opportunities that can come from academics. All students need to do is just pay a little more attention to it.