Teens today are highly capable with technology, but they’re rarely taught or equipped with the frameworks to use it effectively without it becoming a source of distraction.
That matters because for most teens today, studying without a device isn’t really an option. Technology is deeply embedded in how they access information, complete tasks and communicate, and this starts well before the teenage years. A study from the University of New South Wales (2021) found that four in five children own at least one screen-based device, with ownership starting as young as four years old.
However, without any clear structure guiding how they should be used, they tend to fragment attention and add undue cognitive load, rather than support their learning.
By this point in Term 2, a few weeks on from the April holidays, natural entropy has already started to set in, where study routines loosen and, without any catalytic activity to reset them, drift further off track. It’s no surprise many parents start noticing the same pattern: their child opens a laptop or phone to ‘study’ only for them to find out not much actually gets done.
It doesn’t stop there. Oftentimes, what starts as a simple reminder to ‘focus’ or ‘get back to work’ quickly turns into a heated back-and-forth about device use and distraction. The same UNSW study supports this, with 65% of parents agreeing that negotiating technology use causes conflict at home.
At the end of the day, it’s not something you want carrying into the next round of assessments in June.
Banning Devices Isn’t the Answer
As intuitive as banning devices might feel, it’s not a sustainable fix. As we said, technology is already embedded in how your child learns, from accessing content to completing assessments. Removing it altogether only creates more friction than it solves. It limits how they engage with schoolwork, slows down how efficiently they can complete tasks and puts them at risk of falling behind peers who are using these tools effectively.
The issue isn’t the presence of devices, but the absence of a clear way to use them in a way that supports focus and stronger academic results. Technology is a double-edged sword. Used without guardrails, it can pull student performance off track, but with the right approach, it can just as easily it can just as easily help supercharge focus and performance.
Nothing illustrates this better than one of our students, Ijay. Ijay was a 15-year-old student with ADHD. With most of his learning done online, he was easily distracted by YouTube and his phone. It reached a point where he would become defensive and sneak around when his parents intervened. Unsurprisingly, he was often underprepared for exams, failing his Term 3 English paper and three other subjects.
Ijay’s parents, Steve and Cathy, approached us to correct his trajectory before Years 11 and 12 started. We worked with Ijay to identify his own energising definition of academic success and helped him build a Digital Plan for how he’d use technology during study time, one he agreed to be held accountable to.
The result? Ijay increased his Term 4 results by 30% across most subjects, almost doubling his Term 3 Maths result to achieve 87%. By Year 11, in his Term 1 exam block, he was achieving steady assessment marks between 86-92%, including his highest Maths mark ever.
Here are the principles that helped Ijay flip the script entirely and regain control of his academic journey.
Three Simple Shifts That Improve Your Child’s Focus and Results Around Devices
Audit what happens during your child’s study time
The most common ‘autopilot’ response for many parents is to go straight to reviewing outputs like marks, completed homework or reports. Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with such approach, but what parents often overlook is that how your child studies is just as important, especially if they tend to have their face glued to their devices for extended periods.
By observing their study behaviour in real time, you start to see how they approach tasks, how they move through them and where time gets lost. This shift, from focusing on results to understanding the process behind them, allows you to identify the real gaps and bottlenecks.
If you can do this well, then you’re already 50% there. Why? Because you’ve moved past guesswork. Instead of trying everything and hoping something sticks, you now have a clear target to work on.
Rework your child’s current study routine
Contrary to popular belief, the most effective move isn’t adding more to your child’s workload. It’s bringing together what you’ve observed, how they’re managing their energy and the system they’re working within so that study time starts to translate into something tangible, rather than feeling like effort without direction.
In practice, it’s about setting clear expectations around when devices are used for learning, when they should be put away and when they can be used freely. Essentially, you’re creating a simple framework for self-regulated device use, one that builds accountability and reduces the need for constant reminders.
- Define a clear starting point: Before your child begins, make sure they know exactly what task they are starting with and what a completed version of that task looks like. This removes hesitation and reduces the likelihood of drifting into low-value activity on their device.
- Set device expectations upfront: Clarify what tools, tabs or apps are required for that session and what falls outside of that scope. This ensures devices support the task rather than interrupt it, especially during the first part of the study block where momentum is being established.
- Work within structured time blocks: Use defined periods of focused work followed by short breaks. This helps your child sustain attention without feeling overwhelmed, while also giving them a controlled space to check their devices during breaks rather than during active work time. A kitchen timer is all you need.
- Review output, not just effort: At the end of the session, shift the focus towards what has actually been completed and how well it meets the expected standard. This reinforces the link between focused work and results, rather than simply ticking off time spent studying.
Focus on the 20% that drives 80% of results
Once you’ve seen how your child is actually working and how their time and energy are being managed across the week, it becomes clear that there are several areas you could try to improve, which can make the whole process feel overwhelming if you approach it as something that needs to be fixed all at once.
From working with thousands of students, what consistently stands out is this: improvement rarely comes from doing more across the board. It comes from identifying the small number of patterns that have the biggest impact on how your child studies and performs. That’s where the 80–20 rule becomes especially useful.
A practical way to apply this is to narrow your focus to one or two high-impact adjustments within your child’s existing routine, ideally the ones that reduce friction and make it easier for them to stay on track. For example, this might mean setting clearer expectations around how devices are used during the first 20 minutes of a study session, where focus is most easily lost.
Let’s Put These Ideas Into Practice!
The three elements we’ve discussed come together in what we call a Digital Plan, a simple system that helps your child stay focused and productive around technology, while using it in a way that actually supports their learning and results.
If you’d like to see how to put this into practice and help your child move from being distracted by their devices to achieving stronger results, we’ll walk you through it step by step in our live session, ‘Teens, Technology & Higher Marks’ for Year 7-12 parents.
Spots are limited, so make sure to secure your seat early!
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