Overview
It’s easy to become distracted when working in a digital environment. When you find a video on YouTube, you are greeted with dozens of suggested videos to watch next. When you conduct a web search, you end up with quite literally millions of results to explore. Social media beckons with dings and notifications of new posts, likes, and messages. Open tabs beg to be clicked, and online games long to be played. This Ed Tip offers some digital tools that might help you reduce those distractions and temptations, so you can stay focused and be more productive.
Digital Connection Tools
- Mute Tab: Mute all audio from a tab.
- Use Google Drive Files Offline: Work offline with Google products.
- Microsoft’s Can I Work Offline?: Work offline with Microsoft products.
- StayFocusd: Block time-wasting websites.
- Postlight Reader: Remove ads and distractions from online content.
- LeechBlock NG: Set up your own blocking rules by blocking entire apps or setting a time limit.
Integration Ideas
There are many websites, apps, and add-ons that help to eliminate distractions. This list provides a few examples of the different types available to get you started. Use them to set self-imposed limits on yourself and reduce the temptation of browsing the web, checking social media, or watching endless YouTube videos. Many of these still require some degree of self-control since you are setting up the restrictions yourself. However, extensions like Postlight Reader let teachers give students web content in a distraction-free format.
How can I learn more?
For more information about reducing distractions, explore the following AVID Open Access article: Establish Digital Study Spaces and Routines.