“How many of our demands could be reduced if we put some energy into prioritizing, organizing, and streamlining the routines that now fritter away our attention?”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Are you controlling your smartphone, or is it controlling you?
The days seem to be getting longer and blending into one. It’s hard to maintain a focus on important things. It’s all just a constant blur of distraction. We seem to be working harder but getting less done.
Do you feel this drag?
I certainly have been. I think it’s more than just the effects of the new world since the pandemic turned things upside down. I think much of it has to do with the evolving technologies, which seem to be moving faster than our ability to work out how to manage them best.
I noticed that I seemed to be using my smartphone more—a lot more. I was always going to it when I had a free moment. Checking my email a few times every hour, scrolling social media when going to the bathroom – is that really necessary?
Do you feel it creeping in too? You need to be constantly checking your phone for some kind of update. Is this making us any better than we were before?
It feels like this constant checking is numbing our life experience, much like a hangover after a big night. We wake up drained of attention and starved of real connection.
What are the costs of the lost attention? To our work? To our relationships?
We are losing the joy of that sense of flow when we get lost in a deep work task. We are losing those interesting conversations around the dinner table.
After being exposed to several ideas on the impacts of technology on our productivity (e.g. Cal Newport, Nir Eyal) and the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, I started to consider reducing my phone use seriously.
Do you ever wonder who is really in control? Is it you or the device?
How can we take back some of this precious attention?
I browsed YouTube and serendipitously stumbled across this short video from Tim Ferriss, How to Use Your Phone… So That It Doesn’t Use You.
Yes! This was what I was looking for – a plan of attack to better use my phone. It’s incredible how we get so busy using our devices without actually pulling back and thinking how to use them best.
Here is a summary of Tim’s rules on how to better use the phone:
- No email app on the phone.
- No social media apps on the phone.
- Use airplane mode and silent mode.
These recommendations centre around creating “friction points” which break up the ease of those compulsive behaviours. It’s hard to check your email every five minutes if you don’t have an app set up. Same with social media. These little friction points all help as our brains opt for the lazy options. Companies spend billions of dollars designing these apps to be highly addictive, so we have to do a bit of work upfront to give ourselves a fighting chance in the heat of the moment.
(Tim also highlights that when building new desired habits, you want to reduce friction points)
I also liked point 3. Tim expanded on the idea of switching the phone onto airplane mode after dinner and keeping that on until after you have completed your most important tasks the following morning. Delaying any external inputs of information (if possible) is excellent advice as often it takes just one little text message to derail us from our most important task. Next thing, we are chasing someone else’s priorities.
So how does it stack up?
Well, I am a week into trialling a modified version of Tim’s phone rules, and I must say the change has been astounding. I am more productive and making progress on significant projects. I can achieve larger uninterrupted blocks of work without distraction. That “digital hangover” feeling seems to have gone for now. I feel less stressed and more content with where I am at.
Maybe we could all use a little less of these wonderful but distracting devices.
Reflection
Use your phone instead of having it use you.
- No email app on the phone.
- No social media apps on the phone, or at least sign out.
- Use airplane mode and silent mode to your advantage.
