Overcoming Online Distractions

Have you ever sat down at your computer with the plan of completing your homework and studying, and the next thing you know, you look up at the clock and two hours have gone by and you haven’t even touched your work?

Online students enjoy the benefits of flexible coursework and the chance to learn from the comfort of their own home. However, they might also face more online distractions.

After all, activities like emailing and IMing, checking your favorite online stores for new items, looking at your friends’ new pictures on Facebook, and posting what you just had for lunch on your Twitter account seem to make the world go round these days.

Unfortunately, if you let them, these amusements can also take up a big chunk of time that should be spent working on your studies. We know that Anthem College Online students are dedicated, but distractions happen to the best of us.

Luckily, the development of helpful computer applications (apps) that you can download might be able to help you address the online distractions that tend to keep you from your school work or study time. An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education outlines a few of these apps:

Quiet Hours: According to the application’s creator, Quiet Hours “Launches applications, files, or folders after a set period of time. I wrote it so I could kill my IM and email apps for a set period of time and avoid forgetting to turn them back on.” Basically, this app can help give you a peace of mind about taking a break from your other online pursuits because they will certainly be there when you finish your work. Plus, the set time for re-launching your files, applications, etc. will help you plan your work time accordingly.

Stay Focusd: According to its Web site, “StayFocusd is a productivity extension for Google Chrome that helps you stay focused on work by restricting the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites. Once your allotted time has been used up, the sites you have blocked will be inaccessible for the rest of the day.”

Leech Block: Leech Block is a Firefox add-on, and according to its Web site, “You can specify up to six sets of sites to block, with different times and days for each set. You can block sites within fixed time periods (e.g., between 9am and 5pm), after a time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour), or with a combination of time periods and time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour between 9am and 5pm). You can also set a password for access to the extension options, just to slow you down in moments of weakness!”

Remember, online learning requires the same amount of time and preparation needed for in-person classes. Part of making that commitment is giving up some of the time that was used elsewhere online, and applying it towards your career-focused education.

Consider trying one of the apps listed above or coming up with another kind of tool or process that can help you manage distractions and focus on your education!

For more information, check out these 7 Tips for Successful Time Management!