monotasking

The task I decided to complete today was focusing on a reading I needed to complete for class. When doing any sort of homework, it is easy to get distracted by my phone, the computer, or even talking to my roommate. It is an easy out when something becomes difficult or boring and I want to take a break. I began the reading and slowly lost my concentration after completing the second page. Instead of picking up my phone to check Twitter, Facebook, my email, text messages, or GroupMe (a group texting app which is ridiculously distracting at any point in the day), I cleared my mind and began reading again. Monotasking seemed to work well in the beginning, but I soon forgot my mission of only focusing on one thing at a time. I forgot I hid my phone and found myself reaching for it mindlessly several times. Instead of distracting myself via smartphone, my mind decided to wander aimlessly while I was in the middle of an extremely boring paragraph. This is something I remember doing in elementary school and middle school when trying to complete homework or an assignment I had no interest in doing. So there I went, daydreaming about daydreaming. Monotasking did help me finish the reading faster than I normally would have, but it made me realize my inability to stay focused for very long. I think that we have so become addicted to focusing on multiple things at once that we have a hard time doing one thing at a time, even when the distraction is not staring us right in the face. I wish I were able to monotask because I feel like I could focus more on the task at hand and better understand what I need to do. But in today’s society, it is almost impossible to not multitask because our lives are so fast-paced.