Graphic by Katherine Studentsova
By Sunny Tian and Jaden Chin
Features Reporters
COVID-19 has led to many obstacles for everyone. Whether it’s being stuck at home with annoying siblings or sitting in the same chair for hours, the days of monitoring screen time are long gone as school at home has brought its own challenges. It is clear that spending hours upon hours staring at a screen is not only tiring for one’s eyes but can also be mentally and physically draining.
With last year’s online format, students were given a week’s worth of school work to do on their own. Teachers would have Zoom check-ins every Wednesday to either teach class or ensure everyone was on track with their work and even held office hours or Zoom calls for anyone who needed the extra help.
However, the 2020-2021 school year is different. The current online learning schedule is meant to function more like a normal school day, however, in addition to delaying the start time to 9:15 am, remote classes have also shifted to 90 minute blocks, with students attending three to four classes per day. This jam-packed schedule leads to a full day of being on an electronic device. After only two months since the start of the school year, “movement breaks” ranging anywhere from five to ten minutes away from the screen have proven to be crucial for students and teachers to help with one’s stress, blood flow, physical health, and mental health.
Yet, how do students and teachers from South utilize their breaks? Features reached out to get an insight into the thoughts and impacts of virtual “passing time.”
Collin Holson, a senior at South, believes that “movement breaks are helpful as it is not healthy to learn sitting in one place for long periods”.
A language teacher at South has also stated that we need breaks for both teachers and students to help relieve the eyes since they are staring at a screen for long stretches of time.
Although most of the community at South has agreed that movement breaks are necessary and helpful, many have pointed out that the breaks should be longer because a five minute break is not very effective.
When asked how much rest time is given in each class, sophomore Jeanette Zhizhin was critical of the amount of time she was receiving during break, claiming, “Some teachers give me five minutes, most teachers give me seven minutes, eight minutes, but never ten minutes. My math teacher gave us two minutes today, what?!”
Another South sophomore, Augustine Vu, even devised a break plan on how classes should run. He explains how class periods should be broken up into thirds, and after every third there should be a 10-15 minute break.
Some teachers have also agreed with their students on periods with longer or more breaks. “I like to try to give a ten minute break right in the middle,” English teacher Ms. Robertson said. “I think that’s short but that seems to be the standard right now so I’m following it. [I] try to read the room as much as possible and sometimes I’ll end class five, ten minutes early as well,” Ms. Roberston continues.
Finding a balance in the break-to-class time ratio is essential to our day-to-day school lives at home. However, it is clear that not enough time is set aside for the movement break in a single 90-minute class period.
With the knowledge that the lack of time for movement breaks is the general consensus at South, Features asked members of South if they actually used the movement breaks as a time to get up and walk around or if they remain on their devices.
Freshman Zoe Zalkind pointed out, “I can’t really speak for teachers so I don’t know what they do but for me especially, [and my friends as well], we really just don’t get off of our screens because we’re just like ‘All right it’s ten minutes let me just pass the time quickly and then class will start again’.”
Holson has also recalled that the amount of people who stay on or go off their screens is approximately split, but those who continue to use their devices do so because it is easily accessible.
Distancing yourself from a screen can be challenging since students are so attached to their electronic devices, and the short breaks do not encourage students to consider getting up and walking away from their screens.
Vu notices that during the movement breaks, he is only able to either go onto his phone or lay down in bed, claiming, “The breaks are not flexible enough to do anything other than look onto another screen for a couple minutes.”
However, some students and faculty have still managed to squeeze in some time to get out of their seats and go to the bathroom or grab a snack.
Zalkind shared, “I’ll go downstairs to get a snack, be on my phone, or try to finish an assignment I didn’t finish during class.”
“Different people do what they need like go to the bathroom, stretch, or even take a quick nap,” says a language teacher at South.
The general consensus is that the movement breaks are too short, however, it is a matter of opinion among staff and students when it comes to preference over one longer break or fewer shorter ones.
Holson believes that one longer break would be better than smaller breaks, claiming for, “Greater flexibility- I could do more things during a long break.”
Zhizhin also prefers longer breaks. She brings back the idea of flexibiltiy, expressing how, “you can move up and actually like go move around, not sit for five minutes.”
On the other hand, one of the language teachers at South thought that multiple smaller breaks were more ideal.
Many students are complaining about how long the classes are right now and how difficult it can be to focus for such a long amount of time. But regardless of whether movement breaks should be more or less frequent, longer or shorter, having these movement breaks are necessary in order to have a successful online learning experience. Although there is not enough time to go on a walk outside or take a nap, students should use this time efficiently to keep both mentally and physically productive.
So rather than staying in your chair on your phone, consider standing up and stretching, maybe walk around the house, or even just simply massage your eyes and temples. Movement breaks aren’t perfect and everyone may not see it useful, but effectively using what breaks we have now will help us more than not using them at all.
