Too distracted to get that paper written in one sitting?
Yeah, us too.
In course of writing this editorial, we’ve lost focus countless times, distracted by conversations, vegetable stew and the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament.
It’s definitely not something to be proud of, but our faltering attention span may be helping us, according to a study by researchers at the University of Memphis and the University of Michigan.
They noticed a correlation between people who found themselves unable to focus on a task when confronted with background noise and the level of creative problem-solving skills.
So it is the people who don’t just plant themselves in front of the computer to hack out a paper who are more likely to look at a topic from different angles. In short, they are more open-minded.
Therefore, when confronted with a problem requiring us to look past the first thing that pops into our minds, being off-task can help introduce some variety to our line of thinking.
Of course, being unable to focus at all is a problem because we have to act upon the creative ideas we get.
Brainstorming by itself isn’t enough.
So the next time you’re daydreaming when you’re supposed be doing homework, remember that you’re striking a balance between your creative and logical sides.
