Payton Miesner-McClaflin

English 10, Period 1

Mrs. Buescher

13 November 2015

Distractions are More than Just Zoning Out

I. Introduction

After taking a quiz that showed I need to work on forgiveness, kindness, and my love of

learning; however I was worried more about being distracted. I noticed that I have a habit of

getting distracted, and it affected my school work, relationships with my friends, and with

playing volleyball. Getting distracted has affected me throughout my life, and now I wanted to

fix it, especially because I saw how it was affecting me throughout my daily life, which could

affect me in my future.

Getting distracted easily has been affecting my school work, grades, my social life, and

also my life on the volleyball court. When I was in the classroom I had a tendency of getting

distracted, during lectures, videos, and even time to complete my work. It has affected my

learning, not only me completing a worksheet in class, but with me understanding the material. I

would go home and have to catch up on a day's worth of learning, by reading a textbook, which I

would get distracted while doing that. I got distracted a lot throughout my daily life, and when I

would do homework it would take hours, mainly because I got distracted. I would get more than

just distracted on my phone, but just with a simple pencil and piece, and drawing all over my

homework. During volleyball I would get distracted when I would be off the court waiting to get

on to play, and even on the court playing. It was affecting the way I was playing, mainly because
I wasnt focused on playing my position, and me passing the ball to get where it needed to go.

During the volleyball season, I wanted to play a lot more, but I didnt get a lot of playing time,

because I would get distracted with something else, and my coach noticed that. Another

important thing I noticed, was when I would get distracted, it was when I was with my friends, I

wouldnt focus on what was important at that time, and in the end could affect my relationship

with my friends. I wanted to stop getting distracted, especially because it was going to ruin my

life socially, and for my future.

II. Research

Getting distracted can be caused by many different things, from what's going on with a

persons life, to them just not being interested enough to to care. From a study performed

neurologist shows that, Internal distractions are the most important types of distraction to

understand as these are internal conflicts that are preventing you from concentrating (Girdwain

1). People go through battles within themselves throughout the day, and that can affect the way

they perform in situations, and put forth the effort needed without getting sidetracked.

Concentration is a big key to success, and without it then people have a lower chance of being

successful. After years of studying why people get distracted, Doctor Joanne Cantor discovered

why people don't try to stop getting distracted, which is mainly because distractions can make

us feel better (Cantor 1). A lot of people who get distracted have a reason of why they are

getting distracted, however a lot of people let themselves get distracted so easily because the

distraction makes them feel better, than the real situation that's happening. When people get

scared they try to distract themselves, so that they don't have to focus on something that they

don't want to do. People think a lot of times kids get distracted in schools and the parents think
it's Attention Deficit Disorder, and most of the time it's not. The child can have more going on

than what the parents think. Doctors who study on attention span of people and their brain

function discovered that 78% of all ADD diagnosis are not actually ADD. (Smith 1). Most of

the people who have gotten diagnosed with ADD, because they get distracted easily, don't

actually have the disorder. When most of the people get distracted they think it's a medical

problem, but most of the time it's within themselves, and it's their responsibility to try and stop

themselves from getting distracted.

Getting distracted easily is something I wanted to not happen anymore, and after hours of trying

to figure out what distracts me, I noticed I was subconsciously grabbing my phone and gong on

social media, or just not liking what was going on around me, and decided to tune it out. For me

grabbing my phone was almost like a natural instinct for when I didn't want to be part of a

conversation. I would do homework and check social media however, One of the most effective

distraction-management techniques is switch off all communication devices during any thinking

work. (Rock 1). Being a teenager, turning off your phone, or not checking Twitter is harder than

it looks. Being a high school and

III. Process

My inquiry goal was to not get distracted as much. My plan started out with me asking

my friends in my class, my volleyball coach, and my mom to let me know when I would get

distracted. Throughout the first week I didn't try to change anything in my daily life so I could

see if I have made improvements. After the first week of I noticed I would zone out, and not

even notice I was doing that. The 2nd week was the week I actually made changes in my life to

try and stop getting distracted. The third week I resulted in focusing on only my schoolwork, and
focusing on completing school assignments. The fourth week wasn't an assignment for the

project, but I added it in order to get the best results for my results. I chose to try to put my phone

away when I was doing my homework, so I wouldn't get distracted. My second behavior was for

me to focus on the ball and that's it and no one around except for my coach, I chose it that

behavior because I can focus on what I needed to while I was practicing. My final behavior was

during class, I wouldn't have a pen or paper on my desk, unless needed, because I always tend to

draw on myself or paper during important instruction, and that could help me pay attention and

understand everything I'm being taught. The three behaviors I chose helped me throughout the

week in many ways, I understood the material in all my classes, I completed more homework

assignments, and I felt myself develop better as a volleyball player.

IV. Results

I somewhat reached my goal, mainly because my goal would be extremely hard for

anyone to meet. The behavior that most helped was not having a pen and paper on my desk,

mainly because it helped with my other behavior. Even after me recoding the data, I felt that I
have gotten better in not getting distracted or or zoning out as much throughout my daily basis.

V. Conclusion

throughout this project I have noticed myself getting better with my grades slowly going up, and

getting better, and me as a player getting better.