THE ART OF DISTRACTION

Parker was studying for the science exam tomorrow and beep. He turned his head across and saw his phone screen lightened up. He leaned over it to see what he has got. Oh,—a WhatsApp message. And that too from one of his ‘YouTube addicted’ friends!

  He forgot all about his studies and picked his mobile up. The message had a link attached to it. Oh,—a YouTube link. He was dying to know what was in the link, but wait. Wasn’t he supposed to study now? He looked back at his book. There were 6 chapters to revise and sadly, 3 chapters he’s not yet started!

  Beep. Parker turned his head back to the phone and looked at it. Another WhatsApp message from the same person. And this too—as expected—a YouTube link.

  Well, this was enough to distract him. He clicked the link and after a few seconds of loading, the video started. The title read: Legendary complication of all legendary Cricket players’ best shots. And the thumbnail of the video had his favorite cricket player in it. But wait again.

  The duration of the video said: 24 min 30 sec. Uh-oh. He turned back to his book—maybe for the hundredth time—and sighed. “The time’s just half past 3 p.m. yet,” he said to himself. “You have the whole day to study. Only have to watch this!”

  Parker clicked the play button and actually, the video turned out to be good. He clearly expressed all the expressions of the universe once he finished it. He pressed the back button of his phone, and it took him back to WhatsApp. And there he had it—another video waiting for him.

  The time was almost 4 now, and he couldn’t resist clicking on the next video. “I’ll have snacks in half an hour or so… now I’d better have a break and freshly start studies after having snacks.”

  Unfortunately, this video turned out to be boring. But he watched the whole thing just with the hope that some cool stuff would come. Nevertheless, Parker got to eat the best snack ever prepared by his mom.

  Now enough! Time to study.

  Parker opened his science textbook and began reading out the first chapter: Mechanism of different things.

Exercise 1: How does a washing machine work?
  Explanation: Most washing machines have a round drum that spins to wash the clothes. The clothes tumble over each other as they turn, which helps the washing powder or liquid clean them. The clothes are rinsed in . . .

  Parker was suddenly interrupted by Ed Sheeran. I’m in love with the shape of you!
It was his dad on the phone. This call can’t be neglected, not a chance. “Hi Dad,” Parker said. “Oh… Should I come… Okay… Bye.”

  Ahh well, his dad called him to buy groceries for his grandmother. And that too now!

  Parker took his bicycle and went off and was back in half an hour. But delivering was still left. He cycled to his grandma’s house, and she greeted him as usual. With food!

  Parker was there for another half an hour and was now back home. The sun was setting, and he sighed and sighed again. He didn’t really like to put things till the last minute. Now study… Study!

  After half an hour of calm and peaceful studying, Parker was suddenly startled by the noise of the door slamming open. It was his sister. Hmm, hmm. Not good timing.

  “I prepared a gift for you bro,” she said, walking up. “See it! All made with reusable materials.” She laid down the small box-like thing beside him and went off.

  Parker made his mind to open it only after he finished his studies. But he couldn’t resist. “Let’s open,” he said and opened it. The gift was the typical one made by his sister. At the end of the gift, there was a question for him—a question he didn’t know the answer for.

  Parker decided to search it and find it on the web. He wrote the answer in it and returned it back to his sister. It wasn’t much of a gift, just a question for him, he realized. 20 minutes wasted more!

  He now turned back to study, but he hardly could. Parker was just tortured for tomorrow’s exam. He had a quick bath in between and came back to studying.

  Finally, he finished reading 3 chapters—but—there were 3 more left! Dinner time finally came.

  After dinner, he got back to studying. He studied for half an hour, finishing half of the next chapter before going to sleep right on his study table.

  “Morning!” said his mother the next day. Parker woke up only to find out he slept without reading anything last night. He went to school, in full panic.

  The exam’s finally done and Parker came home. 3 days after the exam, the results came. Parker found himself with 40 marks out of 60 and was so startled by it. It was the least he could expect! 

  Now I thought back about this. Parker was tempted to both watching the videos and opening the little gift by his sister. This is called Distraction.

Distraction is the process of diverting someone from concentrating on something. At times distraction becomes a state of madness to do something else.

  When we get busy, it feels like we just don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done. The time moves faster, and we just desire for that one day where we can get extra time and focus.

  So everyone reading this make sure that YOU concentrate on the work you do instead of something else. It may have bad consequences. Well, I just wish you are not reading this to avoid some work as a procrastinator!

Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of my imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. || Contents of this story should not be reproduced in any manner without permission.