Keeping Kids Focused and Distraction Free for Remote Learning

If you are one of the millions of parents across the country who have had to adapt to supervising your children's remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, we don't have to tell you that it can be something of a struggle. Not only are you trying to ensure that each of your children is still receiving a quality education and learning everything he or she needs to succeed at grade level and be promoted at the end of the school year, but you are also likely working from home yourself and juggling your own meetings and deadlines along with the kids' coursework. It's not an ideal situation for anyone involved, yet the unprecedented events of the past year have put us all into the same boat when it comes to remote learning for our school-age children.

Some of the key issues that parents have had with online learning have revolved around maintaining a distraction-free environment for their kids to be able to concentrate on their lessons. Since kids are not exactly well-known for their ability to sit still at a computer for long periods of time, an online class session through Zoom or Google Meet may overload their ability to focus and cause them to become easily distracted by background noise or lots of activity in their workspace. Younger learners are especially susceptible to losing focus and letting their thoughts wander away from their online lessons. If you've got more than one school-age child at home, this problem is compounded, and the number of distractions can be hard for any of the kids- not to mention you- to get anything done in a day.

In a perfect world, you'd live in a house with enough rooms for everyone to have his or her own private workspace, but this is not always feasible. Fortunately, there are a few solutions to help keep kids and parents alike focused on their tasks without having to soundproof every wall in the house! For example, purchasing a headset for each remote student in the house can be an excellent, affordable solution for creating a distraction-free environment without having to make any costly changes to your physical space.

What to Look For in a Remote Learning Headset
When researching affordable headsets that provide your child with excellent sound quality and noise-canceling function, your first step is to determine whether the headset is compatible with your child's computer, since not all headsets work universally. For instance, if you purchase USB headsets for your kids and it turns out that their computer doesn't have a USB port, you'll have to go through the hassle of returning them and purchasing new, compatible ones. It's best to review all the specs of your child' computer first so that you can find a compatible headset that gets the job done.

Additionally, while it's important to find an affordable headset that fits your household budget, it's also important that you look for the features that are going to give your child the best quality experience possible. Noise-canceling features, such as ear cups that are designed to block out external noise, are your best bet to help your kids stay focused and participating in their classes. Keep in mind that while many quality USB headsets offer noise-canceling features, not all of them do, so it's critical that you make sure the headset you purchase is effective at blocking out noise.

Over-Ear Cups vs. Earbuds
Since earbuds were designed to fit inside the ear canal of an adult, younger listeners don't always enjoy the feeling of them, while others are unable to wear them at all! In order to stop this problem before it starts, look for headsets with over-the-ear cups, not earbuds, so you can be sure that they aren't yanking them out during class. By selecting a traditional headset with noise-canceling ear cups that fit securely over the ear, you can ensure your kids' comfort throughout the school day, which can lead to better concentration and longer periods of focus.

If your older child or teen prefers earbuds, however, it is possible to find noise-canceling models that still help block background noise and place the focus on what's on the screen, not what's going on around the house. Look for special earbuds that fit snugly and securely into the ear canal to ensure the best results.

Volume Control
Blocking out background noise should never been done by cranking the volume all the way up to 11, as this can damage listeners' hearing. Children especially should not be listening to sounds greater than 82 decibels, or 70 percent of full volume, in order to protect against hearing loss. For this reason, be sure that the headsets you invest in for remote learning come with a built-in volume control. This control helps prevent young children from accidentally turning the volume on their devices up too high- the headset will modulate the volume, delivering it at a safe capacity to the ears. Volume control can be found on both over-the-ear headsets and earbuds.

With any luck, remote learning will be over sooner rather than later, and children will be able to safely return to schools for traditional classroom learning. However, we still may have several months or more until all of our young learners have returned to the classroom full-time. In order to ensure that your student is getting the most out of his or her remote learning experience, USB headsets are an excellent investment for creating and maintaining a distraction-free environment, no matter the size of your child's workspace. Best of all, even after we're all finally able to log out of our remote classrooms for the last time and go back to business as usual, these headsets will come in handy for any assignments, educational computer programs, or supplemental videos your kids may need to complete for homework.

2020 was the year we all became homeschool parents overnight. Let 2021 be the year you master the art of remote learning with your student thanks to distraction-reducing USB headsets!