Research

Data, sources, and the eventual paper

Survey Findings

We surveyed 30 students (and counting) across three grade levels in June 2026. Full summary statistics and charts are coming in August, and anonymized raw data will be available for download alongside the final paper. One result already stands out:

  • 73% of students report struggling to focus. Only 8 of 30 said focus was not a problem for them.
  • 80% said that once a distraction starts, it is hard to stop. It's the single number from the survey we keep coming back to, though we're wary of reading too much into one self-reported stat from 30 people.
  • The phone was the dominant distraction by far. More than 20 of 30 students named it specifically.
  • Students CAN focus. The question seems to be when. When we asked students to describe the last time they were deeply focused, most gave the same answer: studying for finals. Our best guess right now is that focus shows up when the stakes feel real and immediate, and that everyday schoolwork usually doesn't manage that the way games and phones do. That's a theory we're still testing, not something we've shown.

Putting your phone in another room, the most common strategy students try, worked for about half of respondents and failed for the other half.

Our findings are what changed the hypothesis. You can read about that in the devlog.

Limitations: our sample is small, comes from one school, and skews toward high-performing students (21 of 30 reported A averages). Respondents were recruited through personal networks. We treat these results as directional, not conclusive.

Annotated Reading List

Sources shaping our thinking. We are deliberately including sources that challenge our hypothesis, not just ones that support it.

On FOMO

Fear of missing out: A brief overview of origin, theoretical underpinnings and relationship with mental health (PMC)

The case against FOMO. Links it to lost sleep, anxiety, emotional tension, and reduced emotional control. The strongest counterweight to our original hypothesis.

When Fear of Missing Out Becomes a Good Thing (Atlantis Press, ICCD 2020)

The study closest to our original idea. Found FOMO can be positive academically when students use the fear of falling behind as motivation to act. Small study, and we are careful not to lean on it too hard.

FoMO and learning engagement (PMC)

The most useful nuance we found. Self-control masks FOMO's effect on learning engagement, and there appear to be four distinct student profiles depending on whether FOMO is a stable trait or a momentary state. One-size-fits-all interventions probably will not work.

On attention and motivation

Concentration effort, focus back effort, and mind wandering (PMC)

Suggests the skill of noticing your mind has wandered and pulling it back ("focus back effort") is something you can actually measure. Made us wonder if focus is less about blocking distraction and more about recovering from it, though that's our read, not the paper's conclusion.

The behavioral neuroscience of motivation (PMC)

One of the more foundational things we read early on. Its point that motivational drive depends on both internal state and external conditions is part of why we got interested in what makes stakes feel real in the moment.

Motivation and attention in the brain (PMC)

Found motivation had a bigger effect on reorienting attention than on directing it in the first place. Roughly lines up with our survey: the hard part seems to be coming back, not starting out.

Study time, study strategies, and daily goal achievement (PubMed)

Students with better planning, monitoring, and concentration needed less time to reach their goals in this study. We're cautious about generalizing too far from it, but it's a point in favor of strategy over raw hours.

On distraction

Digital distraction in the classroom (Wiley)

Argues smartphone and social media effects on academic distraction are significant, and that both self-regulatory and environmental interventions are needed. Roughly matches what our survey found about the phone-in-another-room strategy only working for about half of respondents.

Background reading

We also read overview articles from HealthCentral and Cerebral on FOMO psychology. These are not peer-reviewed, so we treat them as orientation rather than evidence.

What is still missing

We know we still need sources on gamification's track record in education, on adolescent attention specifically, and more sources that challenge our current hypothesis. That is the next round of reading.

Final Paper

Not yet complete. Target completion: January 2027. It will be posted here as a PDF when finished, under an open license.