To stop zoning out, shorten the stretch you ask your attention to cover, give your brain something to do with the material, and have a quick routine for coming back when you notice you have drifted. You will not get to zero. Drifting is common, and the aim is to catch it sooner and lose less each time.
Below are seven fixes, what the research says about each, and a short reset you can use in the middle of a lecture or a meeting.
Roomie Cafe is a free focus timer you share with friends. We make it, and we mention it briefly near the end. The rest of this post has nothing to do with us.
What is zoning out?
Zoning out is what researchers call mind wandering: your attention moves from what you are doing to something unrelated, and you often do not notice it happening. In a study that used a smartphone app to sample people's thoughts through the day, people were thinking about something other than what they were doing almost as often as they were thinking about what they were doing, and that typically made them unhappy [1].
So the first thing to accept is that it is the normal state of an attention system, not a character flaw. What matters is how often it happens, how long it lasts, and what it costs you.
1. Work in shorter blocks
Attention fades with time on task. In two experiments, participants watched a recorded lecture, either alone or in a classroom, and answered mind wandering probes at set points. Mind wandering increased as the lecture went on, and memory for the lecture material decreased [2]. A second study filmed people watching a 40 minute lecture and found that attention and retention both declined over time, while fidgeting increased [3].
What to do: pick a block length you can actually hold. 25 minutes is a common starting point, and 15 is fine if you drift early. Take a short break when the timer ends and start the next block fresh. Our guide to the Pomodoro method covers the details.
2. Test yourself instead of just listening
When material is passive, your mind has room to leave. In two experiments on online lectures, interrupting the lecture with memory tests discouraged task irrelevant mind wandering, encouraged note taking, and improved learning. Frequent testing was also linked to lower anxiety about a final test [4].
What to do: every 5 to 10 minutes, stop and write down the last thing you heard or read without looking back. If you cannot, you have found where you left. Go back to that point and carry on. This works for a podcast, a recorded lecture or a long document.
3. Take notes by hand or on a keyboard, but take them
Notes give your attention a job. In the same online lecture study, interpolated testing encouraged note taking, which went along with less mind wandering [4]. The study does not say that notes cause focus, so treat this as a practical habit and not a guarantee.
What to do: write one line per idea, in your own words. If you are in a meeting, write the next action for yourself each time one comes up.
4. Let your body move a little
Fidgeting rises as attention falls. In the lecture study above, fidgeting increased with time on task, and it related to retention even after attention was accounted for [3]. The authors propose a stress based account, so this is a hypothesis about what is going on and not a proven mechanism.
What to do: stand up between blocks, walk for two minutes, or change posture when you notice restlessness building. Do not wait for the break to arrive.
5. Try a short mindfulness practice
Mindfulness training has some of the most direct evidence for reducing mind wandering. In a randomized controlled study, a two week mindfulness course improved GRE reading comprehension scores and working memory capacity and reduced distracting thoughts during both tasks. The gains were mediated by less mind wandering among participants who were prone to distraction at the start [5].
What to do: sit for five minutes, follow your breath, and each time you notice your mind has left, bring it back without comment. The skill you are practising is noticing the drift, which is the same skill you need in a lecture.
6. Use a reset routine when you catch yourself
Noticing is the win. Once you do, a fixed sequence stops you from spiralling into annoyance, which only pulls attention further away.
- Notice, and say to yourself "drifted".
- Take one slow breath.
- Ask: what was the last thing I took in?
- Go back to that point and continue.
- If you drift three times in five minutes, take a real break before the next block.
7. Check whether it is more than ordinary drifting
Frequent zoning out is common in people with ADHD. In two large non clinical samples (1,354 people) and a clinically diagnosed ADHD sample, researchers found that spontaneous mind wandering, where attention slips away without you choosing it, was a central feature of ADHD symptoms, while deliberate mind wandering was not [6]. If you zone out constantly, lose time in conversations, and it affects school or work, it is worth raising with a doctor. Our posts on how to focus with ADHD and why you can't focus list other common causes, including sleep.
Zoning out in specific places
Where Roomie Cafe fits
If you zone out most when you work alone, a timer you share can help. Roomie Cafe is a free focus timer you share with friends: you start a session, see who else is focusing, and work through your own task while they work on theirs. It does not stop your mind from wandering. It gives you a block with a clear end and some company. You can try it at the home page or read why we built it in our manifesto.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I zone out so much?
Mind wandering is the default state for most people [1], and it gets more likely the longer you stay on one passive task [2]. Tiredness, low interest and a phone within reach make it worse. If it is constant and affects daily life, ask a doctor about ADHD and sleep [6].
How do I stop zoning out in class?
Take notes, ask yourself a question every few minutes about what was just said, and write down the answer. Interpolated memory tests reduced mind wandering in online lectures in a controlled study [4].
Is zoning out bad for you?
Occasional zoning out is normal. In the smartphone study, mind wandering typically went with lower happiness [1], and in lectures it went with worse memory [2]. A little drifting during a boring task costs little. A lot of it during something you need to learn does.
References
- Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932.
- Risko, E. F., Anderson, N., Sarwal, A., Engelhardt, M., & Kingstone, A. (2012). Everyday attention: Variation in mind wandering and memory in a lecture. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(2), 234 to 242.
- Farley, J., Risko, E. F., & Kingstone, A. (2013). Everyday attention and lecture retention: The effects of time, fidgeting, and mind wandering. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 619.
- Szpunar, K. K., Khan, N. Y., & Schacter, D. L. (2013). Interpolated memory tests reduce mind wandering and improve learning of online lectures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(16), 6313 to 6317.
- Mrazek, M. D., Franklin, M. S., Phillips, D. T., Baird, B., & Schooler, J. W. (2013). Mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and GRE performance while reducing mind wandering. Psychological Science, 24(5), 776 to 781.
- Seli, P., Smallwood, J., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2015). On the relation of mind wandering and ADHD symptomatology. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(3), 629 to 636.