The dark side of the smartphone and your productivity+ 3 easy focus hacks

Read time ca. 5 minutes. (Unless your phone distracts you before reaching the end.)

A global distraction disorder

You know those days at work when it's 4'30 in the afternoon and you have no idea where the whole day went or what you have achieved?

I believe that a large contributor to this common feeling is our on-demand and always-on culture, where our smartphone not only offers, but pushes, a whole world to you at any given time. Many of us fail to stay focused on a task or person for any length of time, and often pick up the phone at the briefest moment of downtime, often without even thinking about it or having any clear purpose.

In this article, I will point out a few challenges that you may be facing around phone usage at work; particularly how it can affect our focus and productivity and what you can do about it. 

"...I stopped bringing any electronics into meetings and it was as if a whole new world of possibilities opened up to me to focus and contribute, helping to guide the discussion.."

(Paul Gottsegen, VP at Mindtree, Forbes 2019)

The smartphone paradox

Raise a hand if you've scrolled through your phone while in a meeting.

Now raise the other hand if you've been in a flow state at work and then got pulled out by a notification on your phone.

Do you have both hands raised? I sure do. As smartphones have gradually replaced more and more of our tools, our dependency on it has, us not knowingly, increased up to a level where many of us have the smartphone within reach 24/7. This includes at work, the dinner table, even in the bathroom. We are using it so much that we might not even be aware that it has the power to demand our attention any second.

From being a means of communication that you could move around with [mobile phone], the smartphone now has a full suite of roles in our lives that I divide into two categories: tools and distractions. I call this the smartphone paradox.

While the tools generally free up time for us, the distractions do the opposite (although they can be a lot of fun!). This is one of the key aspects when I talk about smartphones and their effect on us.

The smartphone paradox: our best tool is also our greatest distraction

Smartphone the tool

Tool: A device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function

Tool usage of a smartphone includes a range of functions such as calendar, alarm clock, GPS, communicating with colleagues, task management, dictaphone/taking notes, and I almost forgot: phone.

These, any many others, are functions used to perform well-scoped tasks, such as making a phone call, scheduling a meeting, converting a discussion to tasks, or finding the way to your next client meeting. They save us time as they have replaced a more manual way of performing the task.

Internet accessibility and email can be both a tool as a distraction - it comes down to how we choose to use it. If you need to leave the office but still have an email to send, doing it on the bus on your phone is a great usage of the tool. On the other hand, sitting in a meeting and looking through your emails on the phone is definitely a distraction.

Smartphone the distraction

Distraction: A thing that prevents someone from concentrating on something else

We may love this part of our smartphone's functions, but let's face it - using it as a gaming console, entertainment system, social interaction device, is a massive distraction from work. These are tasks without a well-defined scope and no clear outcome.

An analysis of 11,000 users from time tracking company RescueTime suggests that the average person checks their phone 58 times a day with 30 check-ins during work hours. Read that again:

The average user checks their phone 30 times during a workday

RescueTime's analysis further points out that the majority of phone sessions are less than 2 minutes in length and 50% of phone pick-ups happen within 3 minutes of the previous one. It's no surprise that many of us struggle to stay focused when we pick up the phone every couple of minutes. If all the mobile pick ups occurred during a short time window, it would not have the same constant distracting effect:

(Credit: RescueTime Screentime Stats 2019, Jory MacKay)

Ready for the hacks?

These few simple phone (and mind) settings can work wonders for our focus. Give them a try during a week and let me know how you went:

1. Turn off push notifications

By doing so you can take control of when you choose to look at your Instagram feed or your email inbox. It's not when that dopamine-releasing sound comes on, it's when you consciously choose to take a break and enjoy the content of your social network or choose to use the smartphone as a tool and send an email (i.e. hack 3).

2. Leave the phone at your desk when going into a meeting

Or even better, in a drawer with the sound on for calls. You could even suggest phone free meetings. Just having the phone on the table while in a meeting reduces the focus and outcome of the meeting as the phone's mere presence acts as a reminder that the discussion can be interrupted at any time.

3. Set aside a time to use the smartphone

Instead of doing many things halfheartedly, dedicate a time when you are supposed to use the phone. Set aside e.g. 15 minutes twice a day when you have uninterrupted phone time and can enjoy it without the feeling of guilt.

Summing it all up

As with any technology, the tech itself is not the challenge, it's how we use it. In my opinion, we are currently failing on an epic scale on how to use smartphones in a balanced way. In this article, I have touched upon one just one aspect of the challenge: our workplace.

I have also listed a few simple tips that I encourage you to try and get a feel for the improved focus and productivity, probably sense anxiety and if you stay committed - a feeling of freedom.

                USE THE PHONE, DON'T LET THE PHONE USE YOU

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would really value your perspective on smartphones at work. Do people use phones in meetings? Do you feel distracted or empowered by the smartphone at work? Or both? Does your company have a phone policy? Feel free to add any hacks that you have found useful!

Thanks for reading!