{"panels":[{"content":{"params":{"text":"

A story about a student struggling to stay on task and refraining from addictive technological distractions.<\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"3a325ff9-871e-4b13-a5e2-3f66b07e1b57"},"title":"Trading TikTok for a Tomato by Courtney Reader"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Throughout my undergrad, I really struggled with staying on task and not getting distracted. I would open up my laptop, get everything pulled up for my assignment, work for about two minutes and then\u2026. out came my phone. Next thing I knew, I would check the time and would realize I had been scrolling through TikTok for the past forty minutes. Despite my best intentions, social media and the lingering appeal of what laid beyond my cell phone lock screen always won.<\/p>\n\n

I would push myself to work through and try my best to ignore my phone. However, anytime I hit a roadblock in my work or found something difficult, I would grow frustrated and resort to checking my phone and going back to scrolling through social media. Because of this bad habit, it would take me much longer to complete assignments, even if they weren\u2019t all that difficult, because I was constantly taking super long breaks and would end up ultimately putting the assignment off to another day. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"70710a55-a3e0-4c90-9325-1fa560aeaa52"},"title":"The Wicked Problem"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

My academic journey is not yet over, as I will be completing my bachelor of Education in the fall. However, now that I have finished my undergrad and have a break, I feel I can reflect more accurately on if I solved my wicked problem. I can\u2019t say that I 100% solved my procrastination and distraction problem, as I anticipate those familiar feelings will resurface during my next academic journey. However, I do believe that I found some methods that certainly helped me along and made my procrastination and distraction far less than what it once was. <\/p>\n\n

One small, but helpful, way I found to keep myself focused on my assignments and not my phone was by putting my phone in a completely different room (or floor) on silent. That way, I had no visual of my phone to entice me, and I couldn\u2019t hear any notification noises that might grab my interest. I found it was far easier to get distracted if my phone was right next to me rather than far away. Sometimes the urge wasn\u2019t as strong as my laziness to stay put at my desk.<\/p>\n\n

Another tool I used later in my degree was a Pomodoro Timer, or like the site I used, a Tomato Timer. I was introduced to this tool by a professor who encouraged us to make the best of our time and have it be productive. The website I used was www.tomato-timer.com. So, what is this fancy Tomato Timer? Well, it\u2019s a time management tool created by a man named Francesco Cirillo. Essentially, the Tomato Timer is set for a predetermined time dedicated for working, followed by a short break. As a user, you can choose how long you want to work uninterrupted, and how long your breaks would be. I found my sweet spot was a 25 minute work period, and a 5 minute break. I found that if I would waiver in my work determination, I would pull up the Tomato Timer tab and remind myself I only had a few minutes left to work before I would have a break.<\/p>\n\n

Though these methods didn\u2019t completely solve my issue, they certainly helped. Going forward in my bachelor of Education, I will definitely use my trusty Tomato Timer and try to keep my phone away from me while studying or working on an assignment. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"a48a0f03-be25-4234-b7b4-1ed0ee8719a7"},"title":"Finding a Solution"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Distraction and procrastination can be a killer when trying to get through an assignment. But, with some easy tools in place, you can learn to navigate through these struggles and find a happy medium in which your work gets done and you still get time to take a mental break from your assignments. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"84c00c90-459d-4212-a75c-022af1a64a47"},"title":"Final Thoughts"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Reader, C. (2021, October 4). Trading TikTok for a Tomato<\/em>. Liberated Learners. https:\/\/wicked.liberatedlearner.ca\/learner\/trading-tiktok-for-a-tomato\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","subContentId":"5eb38f75-69d3-404b-851b-90e3fcf491e8","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"}},"title":"APA Reference"}],"hTag":"h2"}

Trading TikTok for a Tomato

Liam Peart