THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF PERSONAL DISTRACTION

ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, PHYSICAL

WELLNESS, AND SOCIALIZATION SKILLS
OF THE SELECTED JUNIOR HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS OF
S.Y. 2018-2019
 DEDICATION
The researcher dedicates this research to herself for her future and
to help others to handle their personal distraction.
This research work is also dedicated to the God Almighty, the
author and finisher of our Faith whom by His grace foreknew,
predestined and made this work a success and for seeing me through
my academic years.
She also dedicates this research to her parents who are always
there to provide her needs and gives her unconditional love that
motivates her to finish this research.
The researcher also wants to dedicate this research to her English
teacher, no other than Ms. Angelica Carrillo, who helped and guided
her to finish this research and gave her the support she needs to
motivate her to finish this work.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researcher would like to express her special thanks to these
persons who helped her to make this research possible:
To our English teacher Ms. Angelica Carrillo who guided the
researcher until she finish this research.
To the family of the researcher, this research would not have been
possible without your support.
Thanks to the friends of the researcher for raising her to believe that
she can achieve anything she puts in her mind, for helping her to relax by
sharing a laugh when she was stressed, for calming her tears and
reminding of the importance of taking a break every once in a while.
To the respondents who answered the instrument honestly.
To the principal of the SJAMFI, Mrs.Teresita L. Dayoja, who gave this
golden opportunity to the researcher to do this wonderful project.
Lastly, to our God who gave the researcher knowledge and strength
to finish this research.
These people are worth mentioning because they helped the
researcher to finalize and validate this research.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
• TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………….
• DEDICATION………………………………………………………………… 2
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………….... 3
• TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………. 4
• CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND IT’S BACKGROUND
• Introduction…………………………………………………………........... 5
• Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………. 6
• Goals and Objectives……………………………………………………… 6
• Hypothesis………………………………………………………………….. 7
• Scope and Limitations of the Study……………………………………… 7
• Significance of the study………………………………………………….. 7
• Research Paradigm……………………………………………………….. 8
• Definition of terms…………………………………………………………. 9
• CHAPTER 2 REVIEWS OF THE RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 10-12
• CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
• Method of Research………………………………………………….….… 13
• Population, Sample Size, and Sampling Technique…………………... 13
• Description of Respondents…………………………………………….… 14
• Research Instrument…………………………………………………….… 14
• Data-Gathering Procedure……………………………………………….. 14
• Statistical Treatment of data……………………………………………... 14
• CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
• Survey Results and Discussion…………………………………………. 15-20
• CHAPTER 5 RESULTS, DICUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• Summary of Findings…………………………………………………….. 21
• Conclusions……………………………………………………………….. 21
• Recommendations……………………………………………………….. 21-22
• REFERENCES……………………………………………………………. 23
 Chapter I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Distractions are part of everyday life. Distractions may potentially exhaust one’s
energy cognitively and physically, which could make goal attainment difficult. Some
people are focused on how generally to avoid distractions, some people can perceive
distractions as a potential motivator. The current study expanded on this idea by focusing
on self-regulation and the effects of distraction.

Students are probably aware that spending their attention and energy has an effect on
the quality of their work. Having love relationship with other individual has been part of
lifestyle for most students today. Prioritizing their relationship with their love partners
makes their time less spent especially on their subjects and to other school activities
which affects their performance. With the new technology of cell phones and laptops,
students can miss whole lessons.

Distraction is something that distracts you from focusing to one object or a thing that
prevents someone from concentrating. Focus is important because it is what causes us
to actively look for resources to guarantee our success so we should learn how to control
ourselves to focus on something that may distract us.

This study is to help the students to determine their personal distractions and help
them to find ways on handling their distractions.
 Statement Of The Problem
The ultimate concern of this study is to raise awareness of the Junior
High school students of St. John Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School
Year 2018-2019 about the detrimental effects of personal distractions on their
academic performance, physical wellness, and socialization skills.
Specifically, the researcher sought to answer the following research questions;
1. What are the causes of distractions on the Junior High School Students of
St. John Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2019?
2. What are the detrimental effects of distractions to the academic
performance of the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy of
Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2019?
3. What are the detrimental effects of distractions to the physical wellness of
the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy of Manila Foundation
Inc. School Year 2018-2019?
4. What are the detrimental effects of distractions to the socialization skills of
the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy of Manila Foundation
Inc. School Year 2018-2019?
5. What are the ways of the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy
of Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2091 to handle distractions?
 Goals and Objective
With the given statement of the problem, the researcher aims to;

1. Identify the causes of distractions on the Junior High School

Students of St. John Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School
Year 2018-2019.
2. Identify the detrimental effects of distractions to the academic
performance of the Junior High School Students of St. John
Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2019.
3. Identify the detrimental effects of distractions to the physical
wellness of the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy
of Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2019.
4. Identify the detrimental effects of distractions to the socialization
skills of the Junior High School Students of St. John Academy of
Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2019.
5. Identify the ways of the Junior High School Students of St. John
Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School Year 2018-2091 to
handle distractions.
 Hypothesis

Personal distractions have negative

effects on the academic performance,
physical wellness and socialization skills of
the Junior High school students of SJAMFI
SY. 2018-2019.
 Scope and Limitations
This study aims to raise awareness on the
detrimental effects of distractions to the Junior High
School Students of St. John Academy of Manila
Foundation Inc. SY-2018-2019

To d r a w c o n c l u s i o n f o r t h i s s t u d y, t h e
researcher constructed a research questionnaire.
The respondents for this research are 30 officially
enrolled Junior High school students of St. John
Academy of Manila Foundation Inc. School year
2018-2019. The obtained data for this study are from
the perceptions and knowledge of the mentioned
research respondents.
 Significance of the Study
The researchers have seen it fit to conduct a research to examine the
effects of personal distraction to the academic performance of the selected
Junior high school students. Thus, this study in the researcher’s viewpoint will
be beneficial to the following:
Students- They will benefit in this study because they will gain awareness
about the effects of distraction that can also help the students to overcome their
fears and to focus on what is really needed to give a lot of attention. They will
also be informed that it is also an important factor affecting their learning and
achievement.
Teachers - They will be aware that distraction plays a big role in student’s
learning and understand the importance of distraction in an educational
environment.
Parents- They will be informed about their child’s distraction and be able to
support their children’s physical and mental behavior.
Administrators – They will support the teacher’s goal in helping the students
to avoid the things that they know may distract them.
Future Researchers – They may use this research study as a reference in
gathering data.
 Research Paradigm
The paradigm of this study organizes its variable so that it will be easier for the
researchers to understand the study. The study can be illustrated as follows using the I-
P-O model.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

•Respondent •Data •The
•Demographi Gathering Detrimental
c Profile •Survey Effects Of
- Age Questionnair Personal
- Sex es Distractions
On The
Academic
•Tallying
Performance,
•Survey Response
Physical
Questionnair Wellness,
e •Analyzing and
Data Socialization
Skills Of The
•Presentation Selected JHS
of Result Students Of
Figure 1. Research Paradigm SJAMFI
SY: 2018 -
2019
 Definition of Terms
Academic Performance. This term refers to the things that relate to the work done in
schools, colleges, and universities, especially work which involves studying and
reasoning rather than practical or technical skills.
Behavior. This term refers to the acts or conducts of oneself, especially toward other; the
way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation.
Cognitive. This term refers to conscious mental activities such as thinking,
understanding, learning, and remembering.
Detrimental. This term refers to tending to cause harm.
Distraction. This term refers to the process of diverting the attention of an individual or
group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of
desired information..
Perspective. This term refers to a particular attitude toward or way of regarding
something a point of view.
Social Skills. This term refers to communicate and interact with each other, both
verbally and non-verbally, through gesture, body language and our personal appearance.
Temperament. This term refers to peculiar or distinguishing mental or physical character
determined by the relative proportions of the humors according to medieval physiology.
Wellness. This term refers to active process of becoming aware of and making choices
toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness; it is a
dynamic process of change and growth.
 Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter cites a significant number of related literature and studies that aid
the researchers in the acquisition of accurate data. This related literature and
research findings have been taken from both local and foreign sources.

Distraction
Distraction is the process of diverting the attention of an individual or
group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the
reception of desired information. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to
pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity,
novelty or attractiveness of something other than the object of attention.
Distraction can be defined as the driving force behind all the actions of an
individual when it caught someone’s attention. The influence of an individual's
needs and desires both have a strong impact on the direction of their behavior.
Distraction is based on your emotions and achievement-related goals whether
you avoid things that may distract or you’ll control it. There are different forms
of distraction including extrinsic, intrinsic, physiological, and physical. There are
also more negative forms of distraction. Distraction, it’s something that happens
to all of us in today’s modern society.
 It can be enjoyable at times. The way we talk about
distraction has always been a little self-serving we say, in
the passive voice, that we’re “distracted by” the Internet,
and this makes us seem like the victims of our own
decisions. As urban living spreads portable technology, like
smart phones and tables, allow us to bring that city-like
experience with us. We allow our devices to distract us, or
we can choose to be mindful of the way we use technology.
According to Pascal (n.d), the first theory has been
around for ages, dating back at least to the seventeenth
century when Pascal said, “all men’s miseries derive from
not being able to sit in a quiet room.” Are we simply trying
to distract ourselves from the loneliness or emptiness that
we feel inside? The spiritual theory of distractions asks are
we distracting ourselves from our troubled souls?
 According to Simmel (n.d), the second theory
is that our urban, technology reliant society is the
cause of our distraction. This material theory has
been around since about 1903. That in cities that
are being overrun with technology, “stimulations,
interests and taking up of time and attention” are so
abundant that it’s become a “stream” that doesn’t
require much effort for its ongoing. On the other
hand, living out in the country where technology is
less abundant, you have to find entertainment for
yourself—distraction does not come as easily.
According to Piliavin and Festinger (n.d), the
concept that distractions could enhance the
persuasiveness of a message came in the wake of
a methodological error in an experiment.
 According to the Bottleneck (n.d), theory of attention,
attention can be allocated to only one task at a time. Thus,
multitasking is a myth; instead, the mind switches between
tasks. Stimuli arrives at a processing ‘bottleneck,’ at which
only one item can be processed at a time (Broadbent, 1958
and Maslovat 2013). Because attentional resources are
limited, filtering of stimuli must occur. The bottleneck
postpones aspects of processing of the secondary task
until the primary task is completed.
Schuur and colleagues (2015), suggest two opposing
consequences of media multitasking with regards to
cognitive control, which they referred to as the scattered
attention and trained attention hypotheses. According to the
scattered attention hypothesis, long-term media
multitasking may lead to disrupted cognitive control in
which the individual gravitates towards the preferred task
rather than maintaining focus despite attentional
distractions.
 Connection of Distraction to the
Academic Performance
Few studies include associations of emotions, or of individual
differences in emotionality, to academic competence, and there are virtually no
empirical data on when or why relations exist (or do not exist). The few studies
of emotion and achievement have largely focused on anxiety, but there has
been scant theoretical and empirical attention devoted to the treatment of other
emotions. It is suggested that considering the moderated and indirect effects of
students’ emotions on their academic functioning may provide an
understanding of whether and under what circumstances emotions are related
to achievement. This article briefly reviews findings linking situational and
dispositional negative or positive emotions to academic achievement and
suggests that researchers can learn much about relations between emotions
and achievement by considering the potential moderating role of effortful
control, as well as considering the mediating roles that cognitive processes,
motivational mechanisms, and classroom relationships play in linking emotions
and achievement. Liew (2012) provides a succinct review of progress on
understanding the relations between academic achievement and effortful
control.
 The researchers explore why frequent Facebook use and texting
were linked to poorer academic performance, while instant messaging,
online searching and emailing were not: “This discrepancy can either
be explained by characteristics of the technologies themselves or by
qualitative differences in how the technologies are used by students
Facebook and texting are [perhaps] used for social purposes while
emailing and searching are used for academic purposes.” The study
calls for more research to explain this discrepancy.

The purpose of the researchers was to examine the impact of

multi-tasking with digital technologies while attempting to learn from
real-time classroom lectures. Four digitally-based multi-tasking
activities (texting using a cell-phone, emailing, MSN messaging and
Facebook) were compared to 3 control groups (paper-and-pencil note-
taking, word-processing note-taking and a natural use of technology
condition) over three consecutive lectures.
 Comparisons indicated that participants in the
Facebook and MSN conditions performed more poorly than
those in the paper-and-pencil use control. Follow-up
analyses were required to accommodate the substantial
number of students who failed to comply with the limited
use of technology specified by their assigned conditions.
These analyses indicated that participants who did not use
any technologies in the lectures outperformed students
who used some form of technology.
According to the above literature, personal distraction
diverts of attention from one object to another subject. The
studies show that personal distraction can cause anxiety
and distractions caused by social media sites can cause
negative effects on one’s academic performance.
 Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter includes the information about the

description of the subjects, the population, sample size
and sampling technique, description of the respondents,
research instrument, data gathering procedure, and
statistical treatment used for the data analysis.

Research Method
According to Calderon (2008), as cited by Alberto
et al (2011), descriptive method is also known as
statistical research, it describes data and characteristics
about the population or phenomenon being studied.
 Population, Sample size and
Sampling Technique
Sampling may be defined as measuring a small portion of
something and then making a general statement about the whole thing.
(Bradfield and Moredock)Sampling technique is the technique used to
determine which element is to be included in the sample. The
researchers included 30 Junior High School students as respondents.
According to Shott (1990) in Cristobal, Jr. &Dela Cruz-Cristobal in
Research Made Easier A Step-by-Step Process, “sample sizes as small
as 30 are generally adequate to ensure that the sampling distribution of
the mean will approximate the normal curve (2013).” Thus, the
researchers pursued with the number of 30 as sample size out of the
64-total number of Junior high school students of SJAMFI.
Consequently, the researchers upon the advice of their research
adviser selected respondents through simple random sampling through
table of random digits to get the number of respondents per class.
Simple random sampling is a method of choosing samples in which all
the members of the population are given equal chance of being
selected (Cristobal, Jr. &Dela-Cruz-Cristobal, 2013).
 Description of Respondents
The respondents are the officially enrolled students of SJAMFI in the
school year 2017-2018 from Grades 7, 8, 9, and 10.
The target respondents were:
Table 1
Distribution of Respondents per Class

Section Population Sample Respondents Percentage

Size
Grade 7 14 8 26.67%
Grade 8 14 7 23.33%
Grade 9 11 30 6 20.00%
Grade 10 20 9 30.00%
TOTAL 59 30 100%
 Research Instrument
The researcher made a research made
questionnaire to find out the detrimental effects
personal distractions to the JHS students of
SJAMFI SY 2018-2019. The questionnaire is
divided into two parts. For the first part, the
researchers need to find out the profile of the
respondents. The second part is to find out the
personal distractions of the respondents, the
detrimental effects of the personal distractions to
the respondents, and the ways of the respondents
to handle persona distractions.
 Data Gathering Procedure
Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers crafted and distributed the

questionnaire to the selected JHS respondents based on
the number of sample computed upon the approval of her
adviser. The researcher collected and tallied the responses
of the respondents in the instrument. Lastly, based on the
data gathered, the researchers analyze the results and
made conclusions and recommendations.
STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA
The researchers used the percentage formula
to identify the percentage of the responses. The
percentage formula is written as:

P= N

N/Total number of cases will be multiplied to 100

 Chapter IV
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND
INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the information

elicited from the respondents’ in tabular and
textual forms, as well as the analyses and
interpretation of data
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 1. Profile of the Respondents
1.1 Sex
Figure 1
Respondents’ Profile According to Sex

Base on the gathered data 13 (43.33%) of the

respondents are female and 17 (56.67%) are male.
 1.2. Age
Figure 2
Respondents’ Profile According to Age

Base on the collected data 5 (16.67%) of the respondents

are 12 years old, 3 (10.00%) are 13 years old while 9 (30.00%)
of them are 14 years old, 15 years old is also 5 (16.67%), and 16
years old are 8 (26.67%).
 2. Mostly Causes Distraction
Figure 3
Mostly Causes Distraction

This graph shows that 3 (10.00%) of the respondents is being distracted by their
family, 2 (6.67%) are telling that their friends can distract them and relationships also 3 (10.00%)
the same with the family but, 10 (33.33%) of the respondents are saying that computer games
can distract them, meanwhile 12 (40.00%) social media applications has the biggest percentage
among all the choices and it shows that it has a big part in the respondent’s distraction.
 3. Effects of Distraction on your
AcademicFigure
Performance
4
Effects of Distraction on your Academic Performance

This figure shows that distraction plays an integral part in the

respondent’s academic performance 7 (23.33%) are having a low grades because
of distraction while the other 5 (16.67%) of the respondents are experiencing
unwillingness to study 10 (33.33%) are saying that they are lack of focus on
academics 6 (20.00%) are feeling lazy and 2 (6.67%) says that the effect of
distraction to them is they will receive no academic recognition.
 4. Effects of Distraction on your
Physical Health
Figure 5
Effects of Distraction on your Physical Health

The figure tells that 9 (30.00%) of the respondents are experiencing sleep
deprivation 5 (16.67%) loss of appetite 7 (23.33%) are out of focus 5 (16.67%) is having
a poor sleeping pattern 4 (13.33%) has poor eyesight because of their personal
distractions.
 5. Effects of Distraction on your
Socialization Skills
Figure 6
Effects of Distraction on your Socialization Skills

The graph shows that 10 (33.33%) lack of focus when talking to someone
And the other 10 (33.33%) unable to express one thoughts and ideas 7 (23.33%)
of respondents decreased their face to face communication skills some 3
(10.00%) shortened attention span because of their personal distraction.
 6. Ways to Handle Distraction
Figure 7
Ways to Handle Distraction

Based on the respondents’ ideas 6 (20.00%) of them says that one should set
priorities straight to handle distraction 18 (60.00%) of them tells that practice time
management is important 3 (10.00%) knows that de cluttering your mind can help in
handling distraction and the other 3 (10.00%) is on the side of eliminating or minimize
negative people in one’s life.
 Chapter V
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter also includes the summary of findings, conclusions made based on the results
and also the recommendations.

Summary of Findings

After the analysis and interpretation of data, the researchers were able to come up with the
following findings: the researchers found out that most of the respondents are males. Based on the
data gathered, most of the respondents are distracted by social media application. Moreover,
personal distractions can cause lack of focus on academics, sleep deprivation and hinder face-to-
face communication.

Conclusions
The Junior High school students of SJAMFI SY. 2018-2019 are distracted by different social
media applications. These social media applications can cause lack of focus on academics, sleep
deprivation, and lessen personal and face-to-face communication.
Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, the following

recommendations are offered by the researcher.
The researcher would like to recommend to the students that they
should concentrate more to their academics and list down all the
things that they are good so that they will know where they need to
focus so that they will not waste any time.
The researcher would like to suggest that every parents needs
to look after their child that is being distracted they should motivated
their child to go to school and participate in any school activities that
will help them to gain more knowledge. Moreover, the researchers
think and would like to suggest to every parent out there that they
should provide their child what they need that will help them in their
education, and give rewards for good actions because it will help to
increase the focus level of the students. Lastly, the researchers
would like to recommend that parents should communicate time to
time to their child as to monitor the child’s education and that will
make the child know the importance of studying and focusing on
their academics.
Based on the conclusions, the researcher
would like to recommend to the teachers
create interesting activities that will catch the
attention of the students and help them to
f o c u s l e a r n t h e t o p i c s . M o r e o v e r, t h e
researchers would like to recommend that
the teachers should encourage the students
t o s t u d y, a n d k e e p o n r e m i n d i n g t h e
students the importance of education
 The researcher reviews their findings and found out that
the administrator can also help the students to focus on
school. They can create trainings for the teachers so that
the teachers will have the ability to catch the interest of the
students. They can also create school activities/events that
will help the students to be motivated.

The researcher would like to recommend to the future

researchers that they should include larger number of
respondents, and include more related literature and
studies. They should also use a valid questionnaire
(psychology-based) to measure the level of distraction of
the respondents.
REFERENCES
Works Cited

Anastasia D. Elder, Kaitlyn E. May. (2018). International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher
Education.

Foulger, D. (1977). A Theory of Distraction. Orlando, Florida: Hypermedia Edition,.

Kent, M. (2006). The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine . Oxford University Press.

Matthew E. Brashears, Brent Simpson. (2009). Social Psychology Quarterly, Volume 7.

Spencer, M. (2016). Theories of Distraction. http://technologyformindfulness.com/two-theories-of-

distraction-is-it-becoming-a-bigger-issue/.

Shott. (2013). Research made easier: A step by step process. Quezon City: C & E Publishing.