Smoko - a slang term used on building sites in Australia, meaning a morning-tea break or a smoke break.
- UrbanDictionary.com
My student Josia, who had studied in Australia, mentioned the term “Smoko” to me, referring to our class breaks in which I provide time for students to scroll through social media feeds (rather than during class time), to go for a brief walk or to get some water. According to the Australian government’s Fair Work Ombudsman, rest breaks are also referred to as “crib breaks,” “rest pauses” or “tea breaks,” as detailed in the employee entitlement section of its guidelines—though Smoko derives from mid-morning cigarette breaks taken during work or military duty.
A University of Illinois study found that the brain’s attentional resources drop after a long period of focusing on a single task, decreasing our focus and hampering performance. Though it’s counterintuitive, breaks boost our performance. While social-media breaks are better than not taking breaks, they are not re-energizing, as Andrew Deutscher, VP of Business Development at The Energy Project and an expert on office productivity, explained to the Huffington Post: “They're not going to be nearly as refreshed and recovered as if they took a real break to walk outside.”
How can you schedule mid-morning and afternoon walks into your day?
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