How Do I Get My Student Off Their Phones?

00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:02.880 | All right, enough about that.

00:00:07.240 | Let's see what we got here.

00:00:09.600 | We got a question from Abby.

00:00:12.640 | Abby says, how do you motivate unmotivated students

00:00:15.360 | to get to deep work?

00:00:18.960 | Abby says, I find my work to be of Sisyphus.

00:00:22.800 | So maybe she means like Sisyphean.

00:00:24.800 | I teach high school chemistry.

00:00:26.080 | We do lots of labs and discuss and construct concepts.

00:00:29.480 | Dot, dot, dot.

00:00:31.120 | However, since I started teaching five years ago,

00:00:33.920 | students have become less motivated and gross

00:00:35.840 | in their social media lives.

00:00:37.400 | Parentheses, I hate the phone.

00:00:39.320 | I want them to have a glimpse of the deep life

00:00:41.200 | and aspire to exercise and build their brains.

00:00:43.120 | Where do I start?

00:00:43.880 | Every day is the same thing.

00:00:44.720 | They do not pay attention.

00:00:45.680 | So they either do not grasp anything

00:00:47.200 | or forget immediately how they are the future of humanity.

00:00:50.080 | Abby, I feel your pain.

00:00:52.400 | And you're not going to be able to directly solve

00:00:54.680 | this problem like you are in these kids'

00:00:57.080 | lives for a period each day.

00:01:00.240 | But demonstrate the change you want to see in the world.

00:01:02.520 | We were talking about this in the last answer as well.

00:01:05.840 | Discuss concentration, mental difficulty.

00:01:10.800 | I'm willing to stick with something hard

00:01:12.600 | even when it gets difficult and stick with it.

00:01:14.840 | Discuss that as a tier one skill.

00:01:17.480 | This is how these breakthroughs in chemistry happen.

00:01:19.640 | This is how athletes become fantastic athletes.

00:01:21.720 | This is how those movies you love are made.

00:01:23.880 | This is how The Rock molded his body and his character

00:01:29.760 | into being a international superstar.

00:01:33.000 | Focusing on things when it's hard,

00:01:34.640 | keeping your attention on one thing,

00:01:36.280 | persisting through difficulty.

00:01:38.120 | Just giving this message, emphasizing this message,

00:01:42.320 | giving examples of this message, that does sink in.

00:01:46.720 | It doesn't mean it's going to change people right away.

00:01:49.080 | It doesn't mean you can get them off their phones.

00:01:51.160 | A lot more has to be involved in getting that done.

00:01:55.360 | But you lay down the vision of what the alternative could be.

00:01:59.080 | You cannot escape from the trap of the shallows

00:02:02.280 | until the attraction of the depths

00:02:03.720 | is something that's even on your radar.

00:02:05.360 | And so that's one thing you could be doing.

00:02:08.000 | And there are schools, including some schools around here,

00:02:10.840 | who, for example, teach deep work.

00:02:15.360 | And there are schools that teach my book, Digital Minimalism.

00:02:17.880 | Like, there are schools that go at this straight on.

00:02:20.040 | Like, we want to give you a specific frame

00:02:23.040 | for thinking about these type of things.

00:02:25.160 | Otherwise, what's the model they have?

00:02:26.960 | It's like, well, if I'm on this phone a lot,

00:02:28.840 | maybe I'll be an influencer.

00:02:30.760 | That's the only model they have.

00:02:33.160 | And TikTok is tricking them into thinking

00:02:34.800 | that they're just one video away from that

00:02:36.960 | because it's giving them these fake view bursts.

00:02:39.520 | So you got to give them the alternative.

00:02:41.360 | The deep life, a life built on focusing

00:02:43.320 | on hard but meaningful things,

00:02:45.320 | staying diligent on that, being resistant to distractions.

00:02:48.200 | This is a very attractive, cool thing.

00:02:50.200 | 'Cause basically everyone out there who's really interesting

00:02:52.680 | that we admire almost always is doing that.

00:02:54.520 | And when that message gets through, you've planted the seed.

00:02:57.440 | And you might not be able to grow that seed

00:02:58.680 | tomorrow in your class, but those seeds have to be planted

00:03:00.760 | if they're ever going to grow.

00:03:03.320 | (upbeat music)

00:03:06.820 | [Music]

How Do I Get My Student Off Their Phones?

Chapters