Learning online has so many benefits—I could fill a whole post just listing them! But today, I’m not here to sing those praises. Instead, I want to help you and your teen tackle the real challenge of the world of online learning, and that would be online distractions.

If you’ve noticed your teen’s focus slipping away amid all the pings, social feeds, and three million billion open tabs, you’re definitely not alone. The good news? You can learn how to minimise those distractions and turn screen time into productive maths learning.

Curious? Then continue reading to discover simple, practical tips that actually work. And also, read more if you’re curious how much ‘three million billion’ actually is 🙃

Why online distractions aren’t just annoying — and how to get ahead of them

There are never just pros without any cons on any path you take on your home ed journey. But you can learn how to minimise the impact of the cons and maximise the rewards of the pros.

Everyone is different, so I’ll lead with my own experience. Believe it or not, I do a lot of learning myself — not always about maths and how to teach it (though that too) — mostly about how to run a business. And when I create content, that also requires quite a lot of concentration, just like learning. Most of the time, these tasks are done online.
Hence, I have a plethora of strategies for staying on task and not getting distracted.

So, here are my top tips for staying concentrated when working online:

1) Use focus mode on your phone

When I work, I don’t need a gazillion notifications pinging constantly. So I put my phone into focus mode when I work (unless I’m awaiting an important call or message). This is a super simple but extremely useful tip.

If you need to be able to reach your teen, it’s easy to set up specific contacts that the phone will prioritise, so it will ring even in focus mode. For example, a few years ago, I set my partner’s and his dad’s phones as priorities when we were caring for my partner’s dad, who was seriously ill. I had to be on call for urgent matters (and there were plenty that year). But no one else was able to distract me from my work. Back then, I was recording the core video theory library for my Maths Club. So I managed to focus and work even when times were tough by prioritising who was allowed to interrupt me.

2) Take care of urgent tasks first

If there’s anything urgent I need to sort, I do it first, so I don’t have to keep thinking about it while focusing on work. For me, this might be answering an email or checking my ads. For your teen, it might be messaging a friend or quickly checking social media. Allowing a short time for these pre-work tasks is probably better than trying to ignore them and risk distraction. Once that’s done, it’s easier to close unnecessary browser tabs and get going with the main task.

3) Take breaks that suit your learning style

For me, that usually means long periods of full focus followed by long breaks. If I have only a short break between tasks, I can’t really enjoy it, so I might use it for smaller productive tasks. Many people prefer shorter, more frequent breaks — and that’s absolutely fine. Help your teen find what works for them and support their right balance of work and rest.

4) Measure progress by tangible goals, not just time spent

I measure progress by ticking off concrete goals — a blog post written, a video recorded, a lesson planned — not just by how long I’ve sat at my desk. The same applies when learning maths: theory on a topic read or watched, a certain number of questions attempted (not necessarily solved), or even a revision plan written, self-assessment updated… these too count as part of learning (by understanding what we know or don’t know yet) and help break down the time when we really just sit on questions and try to solve them.

Bonus tip:

I want to highlight the difference between time spent solving maths and time spent attempting to solve maths. This is key for distinguishing “I tried” from “I finished.”

Sometimes getting stuck on a problem and not finishing it is the reason learners avoid maths, feeling like they spent ages “doing maths” but have nothing to show for it. But if we switch the mindset to “I tried,” it still feels like progress. Of course, the attempt needs to be genuine to yield results. When stuck, it’s okay to look up a solution or check answers, which often helps reverse engineer the problem. Time spent learning this way is far more valuable than time spent stuck and not moving forward.

Those are my top tips, plus an extra thought on how to boost morale while learning.

Why are online distractions such a problem?

To answer this (or rather attempt to shed some light on this topic), I’ll dig a bit deeper, which might become a bit more uncomfortable to read. So please stay open-minded.

In short, the problem is not that the online world is such a Siren, singing its non-stop song (ya’know, TikTok, reels and such, those are full of songs and are served to us in a never-ending stream), guiding us to the dangerous waters of doomscrolling.

The problem is simply that it’s more appealing to spend time on these distractions than on the task we have planned. But we can work with that, once we know what we’re fighting.

So, while we’ve already discussed the strategies to manage distractions, it also helps to understand why these distractions are so powerful in the first place.

First, let me remind you what I said earlier: Everyone is different, so what works for me or you might not work for your teen. The good thing is, you know them best, and it helps to try putting yourself in their shoes.

For example, if you just tell your teen, “Now you have to learn,” — and maths, of all things, oh no! — it might be tricky to get the task done without grumbling or outright refusal… and a lot of escape behaviour like getting distracted by all the rainbows and unicorns the online world has …and maths just doesn’t have. When I was a teen, I preferred to be treated like an adult and have independence with my timetable and study plan. I approach my students that way. But I always check with both students and parents to see if that’s what they want. Sometimes they say, “We need more guidance.” Sometimes students say, “I need to be told what to do for homework, or else I won’t do it.” That’s fine — they know what works best for them, and they’re usually good at communicating those needs, which is really important.

For most families, all you need is to lay the ground rules and have a good understanding that you’re a team — not “parents versus teens” or “students versus tutors,” etc.

I’m not here to give parenting advice; that’s not my role. But blocking distracting websites (like social media, the biggest online distraction) often doesn’t go down well if you want your teen to learn online while minimising distractions. It feels like a restriction of freedom. And who would like that?

If the underlying problem is deeper than needing a good ol’ discussion about the aforementioned ground rules and switching the team spirit on (if it’s not already), my best advice is to focus on that first. I know it’s easier said than done, but ignoring it is just sweeping problems under the carpet.

Humans are naturally curious, and learning is in our nature. If your teen isn’t interested in learning, find out why and try to help them with that first. You’ll be giving them a great gift for their future.

Yeah, I get it, not everyone is excited about learning maths specifically, but there are other tips and hacks for motivation. I’ve talked about those extensively in my Home Ed Maths Breakthrough series, which you can get for free by signing up here.

How the Maths Club can help minimise distractions in online secondary maths learning

If you want a comprehensive, distraction-minimised, and flexible way for your teen to learn secondary maths online, the Maths Club has you covered.

The Maths Club is designed to be a complete, independent resource for teens who prefer to manage their own learning with clear guidance and accessible materials. At the same time, it suits parents and teens working together — you can co-create learning plans, set tasks, and track progress using built-in guides.

Because all the essential resources are in one place, your teen won’t waste time searching for extra materials or dealing with distracting ads that free content often includes. This setup helps keep focus on learning rather than distractions.

With the Maths Club’s support and structure, your teen gets a clear, manageable path through secondary maths — reducing overwhelm, boosting confidence, and enabling steady progress from home.

If you’re ready to explore a smarter, distraction-friendly way to learn maths online, take a closer look at my Maths Club and see how it can transform your home education maths journey.

P.S. So, how big a number is three million billion?

It’s when you get ‘three million of billions’, that’s 3,000,000 of 1,000,000,000… so multiply that and you’ll get 3,000,000,000,000,000, or if you fancy a bit shorter notation, let’s use the scientific one, 3 x 10^15. We also have a name for this number. It’s three quadrillion. Or billiard. Depending on where you live and whether you use the short or long scale naming system. There you go, we learnt a bit of maths together! 😊