In an earlier article I have shown that how we are tricked by phone apps into a continuous loop of stimulation and response cycle. They have hacked our own data to reinforce our habits. If you would like to read about it the article is listed down. However, I will give a summary of the main ideas to elaborate how we can hack this into our study programs.
In summary hooked is a method used by programmers to develop a habit-forming product (app)
Main steps are as following with example for each step.
Cue -> notification
Routine-> click on it.
Reward-> new information, photos
Saved value->our interactions which are saved, likes, photos, tweets etc.
It is really effective. However, we can use same smartphone app to create a habit cycle for studying. As an example, there are already apps like Pomodoro (time management schedule to break 25min work with short or long breaks) and habit trackers. Although they lack last step of saving data, it can be useful for someone who is really enthusiastic. For a lazy guy like me, it loses the interest after some time. So, for my last exam I used a different app to regulate my study schedule.
The app is Forest app. It is simply an app which grows a tree for duration of your pre-defined study period. (No they didn't pay me for writing this :) )
Following are the steps I used to plan my study day.
My study periods are either 20min or 30min.
I start growing a tree at the beginning of each session.
I rotate my topics after each study period and take a short break.
And I noticed the efficacy has markedly improved when I used the app. As objectively I see there is a forest growing each day, I really wanted to make a better forest than yesterday after each day. And more importantly it uses all the steps in a hooked method. And it can be used offline. Studying became a game!
I noticed they even have a chrome extension. Hmm.. that should work fine.
I will stop the article here and I can assure you I have tried many other fast learning tricks and habit-forming tricks in the past. (trust me I have read many self-help books) As you are I am exhausted. As we are not machines, what operates in my machine may not be best for you. So, give it a go. If you are getting results get hooked. Otherwise, feel free to let it go.
Thank you for reading. Pomodoro and Growing Trees- How to hack smartphones for study.
you may also like to read - Who is the greatest teacher- metacognition- self learning.
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