Mr. Lyday's Greatest Distraction

This example explains that there was no need for a technological distraction. The complete disinterest in the subject made for the lacking attention span. The background examples of research and stories made for a well-executed

Each time we write an essay or read a book we have to find a way to concentrate on one area for a long period of time. Heffernan’s fervent interest in the distraction-glorifying past is deceptive. She presents the case of Moby-Dick and Ahab’s “monomania” (114) as if it is pro-distraction, when really it just recognizes the danger of obsession. Focus does not equal obsession. Even Tom Sawyer’s interest in beetles is a case for the opportunity for focus interest presents, not distraction. The German Bertolt Brecht and his anti-boredom theater again simply stress the importance of interest and constant contemplation. The attention span is not the enemy, but rather a resource for great thinking. The inability to understand how to use it properly does not render it null and void as Heffernan would have you believe. If anything, the attention span is imperative for getting the most out of the human mind by understanding its limits. No attention span can last

I sit at the polished wooden table covered with endless papers, some of them mine, others not. The dining room is hazy, only the laptop and essay are clear to me. For the most part, I write in dead silence; occasionally, the heater and my mother’s footsteps disturb this peace. My phone buzzes sporadically, text messages and sports alerts light up the screen a few feet away from me. “I should really turn that off,” I think to myself, “This only serves as a distraction.” The dust in the room causes me to sneeze, breaking my concentration here and there. Besides the dust, the air in the room smells like

On a Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in the library, exhausted with two textbooks laying on the desk, unopened. Evidently, I was not doing anything productive because I could not bring myself to open my textbooks and review for my two tests tomorrow. Ten minutes passed by and I decided I needed to walk around to clear my mind before I dive into my studies. As time passed by, I continued to roam the second floor of the library and down the stairs to the first floor of the library. I wandered over to the research center of the library and walked up and down the aisles until I stumbled over a

At UPenn, Mr. Jacobowitz, a college student, was trying to write an English paper, but could not focus due to noise outside. Outside his

Grace is a second grader. She sits quietly with her hand folded in front of her and watches tv. She sees Dumbo and thinks of the stuffed elephant on her bed. She remembers her brother winning it for her at a carnival, where she got to ride a pony and eat cotton candy. A few minutes pass, and Grace has no idea what is happening around her or on the cartoon. She is not worried, because there really isn't a time that her mind is not wandering.

To overcome anxiety and writer´s block, I decided to follow the strategy of choosing a particular aspect of the topic

Once I began to think, I couldn’t stop. My mind was with tangled with buzzing and incessant thoughts, distracting me from reality regardless of my futile attempts to silence them. Inconveniently, my thought tangents were triggered by usually overlooked situations and lasted

Concentration takes its form in the little beads of sweat collecting on my upper lip. My mom’s finger dances along the words in one of those colorful children’s books for beginning readers. The turquoise sleeve of her blouse puddles across the page as if it were melting under the morning rays.​ I know this word. ​It pounds inside my head, but I continue to struggle with the blankness, silence resting on the tip of my tongue where the word should be.

It was another average school night and the red letters on my alarm clock read midnight. My tired eyes stared at the blank word document on the laptop, my mind devoid of ideas. The prompt for this week’s creative writing essay was about bizarre situations. Usually, my mind would be overflowing with ideas like a river, and I would get the assignment done on the first day. Three days passed, and I still had no ideas. I was officially afflicted with the notorious writer’s block I had heard so much of. There was this feeling of having an empty void in my mind, and having uncertainty over what to write next, whether it is over the prompt or the next words. Closing the laptop in defeat and accepting the reality that I would receive a failing grade for the paper, I shut the laptop and trudged over to my bed and dove under the covers. At least I would not suffer the consequences of my actions in the temporary

My day began with Fergalicious blaring from my cell phone to wake me up at 5:45 a.m. It took me several minutes to muster the strength to roll out of bed. It was time to visit Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. After a warm shower, an hour of primping, and a quick breakfast my mom, dad and I were on our way to Decorah. The hour drive seemed to last an eternity. Several things were running through my head during this long drive. I was reminiscing on my visit to the University of Iowa that I went to the day before, and how at home I felt in Iowa City. I was also thinking about all the things I could be doing besides this college visit. Eventually we pulled up to the Luther campus my mom turned to me in the back seat and pleaded:

In the spirit of testing my cognitive an affective memory on this week’s takeaways, I will write based on hunches, i.e., I will not revisit the articles and chapters of books that were assigned for us to read while writing. I will also time my writing to check whether my writing speed has improved. By the end of my writing, I will have a look whether I spend more times: writing (composing and putting ideas) or editing (polishing). To help me with, all the potential intruders have been “deactivated”: kids have left home for school, my wife is busy with house chores , and internet WI FI connection is turned off.

The day before Thanksgiving break was as you might expect. Shortened classes meant no work and we got to enjoy the day. As English class rolled to a close something of the JRP was mentioned but I didn't really bother to pay attention. I had figured it was probably just talking about the future. As it turned out, the future was when we got back. Our first day in the library was confusing. Bombarded by research tips and new information I couldn't really think. I spent the period thinking about what I love to read about and just walked up and down the shelves until something caught my eye. As I walked past the back row, I saw a book on house music affects the brain and it immediately clicked. I wanted to write an essay on how different things

The warm sunshine that was streaming through the classroom window was doing nothing to help my concentration as I sat in class trying to pay attention. The teacher’s monotone voice droning on about some dead men who fought in a battle hundreds of years ago was slowly putting me to sleep.

In a busy and production-oriented society, interruptions are generally seen as irritating, rude and unnecessary moments that should be avoided at all costs. However, in “Interruptions”, Susan McCaslin wants the reader to consider that living in the gaps between thought and conversation, in the interruptions of life, is how one can often see what is truly happening in the present around us. Using the rhetorical pattern of contrast as well as direction, the unexpected, natural imagery and words about language, McCaslin seeks to demonstrate the value of interruptions by understanding them as the gaps in life where the opportunities for mindfulness and creativity lie.