https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/grand-bien-vous-fasse/comment-mieux-gerer-les-ecrans-avec-les-enfants-et-les-adolescents-4315471
10 tips to help them learn.
In the age of mobile phones and increasingly attractive distractions, how can we help our teenagers find their way back to concentration, the key to their future success?
Advice from a clinical psychologist, Didier Pleux , and cognitive science researcher Elena Pasquinelli on Ali Rebeihi's show "Grand bien vous fasse":
Concentration, what are we talking about?
Concentration, according to Le Robert,
It is the application of intellectual effort on a single object.
For Didier Pleux:
She has the ability to exclude anything that is parasitic, What we would naturally want to do is: answer a friend's phone, watch a YouTube video, post a photo on Instagram or Snapchat… Do anything other than what we're supposed to be doing for school: learning. Concentration, therefore, is the emotional capacity to endure difficulty and effort.
Attention and concentration remain the foundations of learning and memorization . However, contrary to what we might imagine, our brain has not been transformed into a multitasking machine. When there are too many stimuli, he can't manage them. He juggles one activity after another. Hence the cognitive fatigue , the inability to complete the task, and the risk of drifting off, far, far away…
Staying focused on one thing at a time is difficult
Elena Pasquinelli reminds us that the difficulty of concentrating is underestimated. It is not a natural thing to dwell on something somewhat unpleasant for which one does not always have motivation .
More naturally, we tend to pay attention to what gives us quick pleasure. Distractors (cell phones, screens of all kinds…) are “ pastries for our brain They are often close to us, making it difficult to detach ourselves from them.
Parents, it's your turn!
Contrary to popular belief, parents do have a role to play in improving concentration. Attention and concentration are skills that can be learned. Young people need help developing effective strategies.
- Move the mobile phone away
We believe them While teenagers are independent, they still need parental help. When they're glued to their smartphones, they're not yet able to put them down on their own.
- Organizing your office and your room
The two specialists in adolescent concentration believe that the place of learning should have as few external stimuli as possible. and advise against, for example, having a PSG team poster above your desk.
- Set clear goals
For Didier Pleux, school is the place that links learning to future careers. Even if it puts pressure on the child, it gives meaning to what they learn.
He advises to create a short sheet outlining the child's long, medium, and long-term goals: "I want to be..., for that, I need to go to such and such a school, to get into such and such a school, I need to go to such and such a preparatory school, for that I need such and such a baccalaureate... So tonight, I'm working on my English."
- Accepting that learning is not always enjoyable
For Elena Pasquinelli, We need to let go of the idea of learning without effort. Otherwise, we will desperately seek a strategy to learn effortlessly, which is impossible.
But the adult can also help the child grasp the idea that If he suffers today, he will suffer less tomorrow, and learning allows him to automate, thus reducing the effort in the future.
- Helping him get rid of intrusive thoughts
And if there are intrusive thoughts, it's because there are intrusive emotions: Anxiety ("I'm not going to succeed..."), fear of failure ("What will my parents think if I fail?"). Help the teenager ask themselves: "What is blocking me emotionally?" It's about helping him get rid of the negative emotions that will distract him from the task he needs to focus on.
Some also believe that they should understand immediately what they are taught: No, it is slowness and proper assimilation that leads to progress. Some students feel inadequate because they see the top student answering instantly. They haven't seen the work he did with his uncle the previous weekend!
- Put things into perspective: learning is simply a behavior
Particularly anxious teenagers often ask themselves before starting a school task: "Am I going to do well?" and behind that is the idea that the grade given will be their value. We need to separate academic results from self-image: a good grade doesn't mean "you're intelligent," a bad one doesn't mean "you're stupid!" That's too risky!
The day a good student gets a bad grade, it's not just an accident that can happen due to a lack of preparation, but a judgment on oneself. Consequently, motivation collapses, and concentration along with it. Hence the importance of praising the effort more than the result.
- Helping him gain confidence in himself
A teenager aware of his potential allows him to have good concentration and attention.
- Participate in the life of the house
Didier Pleux believes that if unpleasant experiences aren't introduced into a teenager's life, they will become fragile and vulnerable when faced with obstacles. Often because of the book. The Lobster Complex by Françoise Dolto Many parents have gotten into the habit of protecting their children. They've become taxi drivers, bankers, restaurant owners, or hoteliers for their offspring. So the teenager doesn't do anything at home. But if he does nothing and has no constraints, how can he accept the frustration of having to do something?
- Go slowly, sequence it.
Often, teenagers who have trouble concentrating will want to take on a big project. They'll throw themselves at Proust and want to read 2000 pages at once. You have to tell them, " No, if you want to read Proust, we use the salami technique: 10 pages at a time. " like a sausage that you cut into slices, because if you only cut it into three pieces, the guests find it indigestible.