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How to stop getting distracted by a phone?
My phone is a major distractor for me. I often cannot focus on studies and work and just waste time on social medias. And I feel that it negatively impacts my productivity and mental health.
How to you cope with this "phone addiction"? What are your ways to stop getting distracted by your phone?
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Zeynep Bozkurt
Hey Daria,
Agreed with the comments below, I think first step you should take is to turn notifications off while you are working. Especially if you're on a heavy, extra focus-needed task you should be away from all the distractions. But these distractions may be your little awards. After you worked for a certain amount of time (this is also what you should decide according to your daily workload, but my suggestion is to use pomodoro method), you can give a break and look at your phone. But if you're using pomodoro technique, I recommend you to check your phone at your longer breaks, not the 5 minute ones. :) This may lead you to distract more and extend the duration of your break, which also cause longer work time to finish the task.
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Put the phone far away, so you will be lazy to go and get it. Always worked for me. )) Also sometimes I use "do not disturb" mode for an hour or two. It's fine to completely disconnect for a while.
Hi @daryakhmetova this is totally a relatable problem. So I tried something last year which worked for me
1. Switch off the notification of individual apps... Because you shouldn't switch off phone notification completely.. instead start with the most disturbing apps... like insta, FB, reddit etc. the idea is to use these apps on your command rather they pull you in with their notification.
2. Check your mobile screen time in setting to understand where do you spend most of your time.
3. Uninstall these apps for some time if necessary.
Let me know if it works
I went cold turkey and deleted all distracting apps from my phone altogether back in 2020, including all my SNS. If I want to check them - I have to log in from my PC, otherwise the world can wait.
Now my phone is just down to calls/msg, banking and some organizer apps. I even deleted Youtube app (kept the music version only).
I follow a few steps in sequence.
1) first, I try to put my phone away and then try to focus on a comfortable place far from anything that reminds me of my phone.
2) If the first step fails, then I try to put some slow music in the background, enough slow to not distract me.
3) If the second fails too, I try to eat something while studying and promise myself to reward myself if I won't use the phone for 15 min and then try to increase this time gradually.
4) If all steps fail, I switch off my phone and give it to someone to hide it or to keep it.
But the problem is these days we need to study by phone, in that case, I try to take frequent breaks.
However I can feel you, it is really very tough to not distract from the phone and to focus on study and work.
Hey @daryakhmetova ,
The tips given by the community are super valuable. Here's what I'd add:
1. Before opening any app on my phone I ask myself: "What exactly do I want to do? What do I want to achieve?" This question will "give" your brain a task.
2. Block timeslots in your schedule dedicated to browsing on the web or scrolling social media apps. This way, you'll feel more relaxed because you'll know that your relaxation time is coming. Btw, have you analyzed when are you getting distracted?
Hope this helps.
@anna_voronina148 I usually get distracted when there are some difficult or boring tasks that I actually do not wanna do haha
Your steps seem to be great! I will definitely try it. Thank you a lot!
@daryakhmetova , it's good that you're aware of that, now:
1. For boring tasks, find ways to make them pleasant. For example, I hate doing dishes, so when I have to do that, I turn on my favorite music or listen to an audiobook.
2. For difficult tasks, take a piece of paper and list all the small steps you need to take to complete the task. When you complete a step, cross it out, this will skyrocket your motivation to continue working.
I love the four points listed by @anil_meena21 and @adityabhatnagar12
The only thing I would add is to put your phone in a separate room on airplane mode while you work. If you do not absolutely need it for a task, no reason to have it on you.
On Aditya's point, I'd push to examine the touchpoints that push you to go on the phone and then go off the phone. Treat it as a marketing problem for whatever the competing activity is (whatever is distracting you).
Related, I've been following this product for a long time (https://www.thelightphone.com/). They just released the second version of their product and a goal of mine is to pull the trigger and buy but I haven't been able to. If anyone has, I would LOVE to hear what they think.
I put all the distracting apps in a folder, so its just one more click needed to get to them.
Interesting question ... I think that everything depends only on you. Before, I was often distracted by mobile games, social networks. At one moment, I realized that the faster I do my job, the more time I will get on the phone. ... Now I can look at my phone once an hour to make sure there are no important messages.
Yes, same here. I deleted the most disturbing apps and keep my phone in a separate room.
It helps to calm down more than you expect.
Daria, good luck detoxing. 👍
I just put it in another room when I'm working from home and if I'm in the office well I'd look silly if I keep using my phone
Heavy task but not impossible if you have discipline. First you have to delete all the most disturbing apps, than to minimize notification after work hours on your Slack or Pumble app for internal communication or when you are doing something important. I like to put my phone down with home screen on other side and with silent mode when I need to restart and to do something without interruption. It helps me to calm down and to be focused on what matters in that precise moment.
Simply by switching it off!
This is a hilarious answer. In fact, life does not stop by switching off a phone in personal life. Especially while driving or operating some machines, it is best to switch it off if you are distracted by the phone.
In a professional environment, it is not feasible to switch off the phone, but you can mute your phone if you are distracted; after some time, you can answer important calls and messages.
@elena_cirera Thanks for advice! Yeah, I agree that switching off is the most helpful! However, I need my phone for work a lot!
Hi all. I used to have two sim cards because I used one for work and my personal life. I have a lot of contacts on these sim cards, and sometimes I just get confused. But recently, a friend of mine advised me https://usechalkboard.com/second... , which makes my work much more manageable and allows me to make calls all over the world and not get confused with contacts. I hope I have helped in some way. Good luck, everyone.
