This is Part 2 of our series on how to stay motivated + engaged with online learning. In our most recent post, we talked about the importance of identifying emotional shortcuts, and setting up an efficient study space (or spaces!) at home that will get your teen motivated and ready to jump into schoolwork.

How’s your teen holding up so far this semester?

While some schools are resuming in-person instruction, a lot of classes are still at least partially online.

A lot of our coaching students this fall have mentioned that they are having a really hard time staying focused during all of their back-to-back Zoom classes.

For some students, staying focused is even harder this semester than it was in the spring because many classes are now happening live, so students are stuck sitting through hours of live video calls every day.

While it’s *great* that teachers are providing more live instruction, students are also experiencing a lot of Zoom fatigue, and having a hard time focusing.

But there are some ways your student can avoid getting completely zoned out during the day and can keep their attention and energy high so that they can make the most of their online semester.

1: Move more!

Does your teen seem to be even more exhausted after an online day of school than a standard, in-person day of classes? 

One reason why may be because they’re moving way less!

During a ‘normal’ school day, students switch classes during the day and take a break for lunch which gives them opportunities to get up, move around, socialize with friends, and re-engage their brains. 

Students who are working from home won’t have this activity built into the day automatically, and may end up sitting in front of screens for long periods of time, which can leave them feeling sluggish and tired, and likely to experience mental fatigue and increased stress.

Some things to try…

• Before you sit down to begin a day of Zoom classes, take a few minutes to move your body by going on a quick walk outside or doing some jumping jacks.
• Anytime you start to feel unfocused, take a moment to stretch or allow yourself to fidget. (this is especially important for students with ADHD!) If you’re sitting for a long period of time, consider setting your phone or watch to vibrate periodically every 10 minutes or so, to remind you to stretch and shift in your seat.
• Especially in longer classes, consider asking your teacher ahead of time if you can turn your video off for a couple of minutes halfway through the class to get up and stretch or grab a drink of water. (If video isn’t required, you can do this without asking.) 
• Even if you only have 5-10 minutes between meetings, get up from your workspace and move your body after each “class period” ends to reset your brain. 

2: Reduce eye strain

Staring at a screen all day is really hard on your eyes! 

 Our eyes have to work a lot harder when they are looking at a computer screen than they do when we’re reading print material or interacting with people in the real world, because…

• People tend to blink less when using computers, which dries out their eyes
• The glare and contrast on computer screens makes them harder to read than printed text
• It’s easier for the muscles in our eyes to look at things that are farther away; they have to work harder to view things at close range

All of this extra effort can cause symptoms of eyestrain including tired or dry eyes, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and feeling like you can’t keep your eyes open.

Some things to try…

• Change the location of your screen so it’s easier on your eyes. The ideal screen position is about 2 feet away, slightly lower than eye level, tilted back about 10-15 degrees.
• Reduce the intensity of your screen by adjusting your screen settings for brightness, font, and contrast of your screen to a level that’s easier on your eyes. If the blue light exposure bothers your eyes, consider getting blue light glasses or using an app like f.lux
• Minimize glare by turning down overhead lights, moving to a workspace that’s not directly in front of or behind a window or bright lights, and/or getting a matte screen filter.
• Reduce eye dryness by blinking frequently, using eye drops between classes, and/or getting a humidifier to add moisture to the air. 
• Set your meetings to speaker view so your brain doesn’t have to process so many visual cues at once. If possible, adjust the settings so you do not see yourself; otherwise, you can end up staring at your own video, which can be exhausting and distracting.
• If you’re attending hours of online meetings during the day, try to spend as much of your downtime offscreen as possible, to give your eyes and brain a break.
• Give your eyes a break throughout the day by following the 20-20-20 rule:

3: Make it feel as “real” as possible

Staying focused and motivated about online classes is harder because the experience is not as immersive and does not feel as real to our brains as attending classes in person.

When you’re attending class online — even if the classes are taught live — it’s hard to get truly immersed in the experience because there is such a strong temptation to multitask. It is incredibly tempting to “just check this one text” or pull up another computer window in the background. Since our brains can’t actually do more than one thing simultaneously, we end up task switching all day long…which leaves us feeling much more scattered and exhausted than if we’d attended those same meetings in the real world.

Some things to try…

• Try not to multitask! Immerse yourself in the class in front of you by closing out all of your other computer tabs and putting away your phone. 
• Consider setting up a separate login or desktop (on a mac) that is specifically dedicated to classes, where the only thing pulled up is your class video and any notes or materials you need in order to participate.
• Get involved in live classes by participating actively and asking questions as often as possible.
• Make a list of anything you want to do or look up after class to help you avoid the urge to search for it right now in the middle of class.
• Consider taking handwritten notes on paper, even if your teacher is providing notes. Writing by hand can help you stay focused and improve comprehension of the material.
• Consider asking your teacher if they’re willing to accept pictures of hand-written work, so you can write out notes and assignments by hand instead of typing them online.
• Purchase and read from physical textbooks whenever possible, and print out online readings instead of reading them on the screen. 

If your teen is still feeling stuck and struggling to stay focused during the school day, encourage them to talk to their school counselor and teachers. They may have even more helpful suggestions to provide, and will be happy to see you being proactive and reaching out for support. And who knows…they might even incorporate some of these ideas — like taking periodic stretch breaks or encouraging students to look away from the screen every 20 minutes — into the way they are teaching the class!

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to stay more focused and energized during Zoom calls! I’d love to know how it goes, so please let me know in the comments below if you try out any of these strategies.

And please post below to let me know if you have any other ideas to add to this list for how to help with Zoom fatigue. It’s not just students, either…I think ALL of us who are working online can use all the help we can get with this!

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About The Author

Dr. Maggie Wray is a certified ADHD Coach & Academic Life Coach with a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell and a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from Princeton. She founded Creating Positive Futures in 2012 to help high school and college students learn how to earn better grades with less stress. Her team of dedicated coaches is on a mission to empower students to develop the mindset, organization, time management, and study skills they need to achieve their goals.