How To Stay Focused With Digital Distractions

Here’s the deal: I get distracted easily. Even though I blog about mindfulness and productivity, I still haven’t perfected the art of staying focused, and to be honest, I don’t really want to be focused all the time because that sounds pretty boring.

That being said, there does come a time when I need to get my shiz together and pay attention to what I’m doing or else it will never get done. Now, we all have different things that distract us from what we need to be doing, but I’m going to assume there’s one thing that distracts the majority of us: our phones.

My phone is the biggest distraction in the world. Whether I’m at work, blogging, doing schoolwork, or just hanging out with friends, my phone is a huge culprit of distraction for me. There’s so much that you can do with a little (or not so little anymore) screen that it’s easy to get completely lost in it.

My second biggest distraction is probably social media, which also happens to be on my phone, but I find myself lingering on Twitter and Pinterest for way too long when I’m on my computer.

Because I’m not about to live my entire life through a screen, I’ve found a few techniques that help me break this addiction and allow me to get focused. I won’t lie and say they work every time and that I avoid distractions all together, but they have helped me significantly when it comes to productivity.

Maybe all of this seems a little restrictive or extreme, but I’ve found that it really helps me and that I’m not actually missing out on anything that’s going on in the world because of the guidelines I’ve set for myself.

So if you’re someone who also finds yourself distracted by your phone and social media, maybe these tips will help you too!

5 Ways To Deal With Digital Distractions

I leave my phone in do not disturb mode.

I always leave my phone in do not disturb mode overnight because sleep is a precious thing, but I’ve also started doing the same thing during the day (mostly while I’m at work). I don’t like the idea of my phone stealing my attention when I’m focused, so this method means I only check my phone when I actually think about it. If you’re worried about missing an important call, you can set it so that when certain people call you in do not disturb mode, your phone will still ring.

I turn off email notifications on my phone and computer.

Nothing stresses me out more than seeing that I have 50 emails to check in the morning, so I’ve turned off email notifications on my phone and my computer. Now, I only check email when I remember to do it instead of feeling like my inbox controls me.

I don’t put my phone on my desk at work.

I’ve recently started making it really difficult for myself to absent-mindedly check my phone while I’m working. If I leave it somewhere across the room, I have to get up and walk to even check it. Not only does this give me some more exercise, but it also ensures I’m not distracted from every notification that pops up.

I block Facebook after five minutes using Freedom.

Facebook is often the number one time-waster for me when it comes to social media. I actually hate Facebook and can’t figure out why I keep going on it, so I deleted the app from my phone, and I use a Chrome app called Freedom that will block Facebook after I’ve been on it for five minutes.

I don’t use my phone in bed.

How many times have you stayed up later than you meant to because you were aimlessly scrolling on your phone? Or maybe your phone is just sitting there by your side so you keep checking it and hoping for something new to distract you? Yup, that’s me. Now, I put my phone on my dresser when I’m in bed which means I need to actually get out and walk over to it if I want to get on my phone.

Your Turn!

What are your biggest distractions? How do you deal with them?