Beast Mode Study Part IV: Weapons of Mass Distraction

<p>Beast Mode Study 4: Weapons of Mass Distraction</p><p><br> <br> Long, sleepless nights with mounting cans of empty Monster Energy, toothpicks strategically placed to keep the eyelids open, a blanket embracing your torso as the young morning brings a chill to the air. The cliché imagery from every university comedy montage is cliché because it’s common. Many imagine that it is long hours of study that will bring the best results.<br> <br> Research however tells a different story. Research shows that highly successful students actually spend less time studying than their contemporaries but study more intensely and efficiently in their shorter space of time. </p><p>It starts with shredding, burning then flushing the idea that you can easily multi-task while studying. Multi-tasking has become more prominent in the digital age where weapons of mass distraction are hidden in plain sight. They have become so much a part of us that they may as well be surgically attached. According to a 2016 study funded by the National Health &amp; Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, more than 50% of young adult to middle-aged people carry their phones in their hands or pockets and more than 50% sleep with their phones no more than 50 cm from their heads. <br> <br> When a person has moments of shifting attention, even if briefly or passively, those are moments where the brain has to jump from context to context, meaning it has to waste energy refocusing on whatever it is that is meant to be receiving primary attention. This is not to be confused with the interleaving method which we talked about in the last episode, where attention is carried through to different topics and connections are made. This is having a TV show on in the background, notifications pinging, dinging and ringing while your flatmate is singing this is not bridge building, this is taking long jumps from planet to planet to the point where your energy is so zapped that you struggle to get back to where you should have stayed. If that example goe