We sell phone cases which house wonderful pieces of technology. They allow us to keep in touch with friends and families, take care of business, and provide hours of entertainment.
As amazing as these devices are, it's also easy for us to get distracted by them.
How many times have you logged onto your phone to check an email and then got sucked into twenty minutes of feed scrolling on Instagram and Facebook??
I do it all the time! Social media is my full-time job, I have to be even more mindful not to fall into the scrolling trap.
Technology is awesome, but it can be addicting. Here are a few simple ideas to add some mindfulness to your routine and avoid digital distractions.
1. There's an app for that:
There's an app I use called Forest it's great when I need to focus my undivided attention on something. Especially when that something is tedious.
When I have a tedious task before me... one that isn't super fun, I tend to reach for my phone.
My brain is saying, "This is hard, let's take a quick break." Then break after break I'm procrastinating what I need to be doing.
When using the forest app it locks my phone down. I choose a set amount of time to "lock" my phone. During that time a virtual tree is planted.
Of course, if there's an emergency, you can exit out of the app at any time, you just kill your tree. You tree isn't fully planted until you've completed the time that you've set.
One thing I think is really cool about this app is if you plant enough virtual trees, you can plant real tress - in real life! How cool is that.
2. Delete apps:
This one might sound a little extreme, but stay with me!
If there's an app you constantly get sucked into - delete it! *cough, cough* Facebook.
If I had the Facebook app on my phone, I'd go into check one thing and before I knew it, I'd spend 20 minutes scrolling.
Every. Single. Time.
So, I just deleted the app and it solved my problem. Give it a try. Delete all of your social apps, it doesn't have to be permanent. You can always download again.
But, I bet without that easy temptation, you'll suddenly have a lot more free time and be checking your phone less.
3. Set a timer:
I manage social media. I write a blog. I have to be on my phone constantly answering questions, responding to comments, uploading new content, etc.
And, I LOVE doing that. I love my job!! But, it takes a lot of will power to not get distracted.
Apps, especially social sharing apps, are specifically designed to suck you in. They want you to stay on their platform as long as possible.
I keep a tight schedule by setting timers. This prevents me from getting sucked in and losing track.
I like to set a timer for 10-20 minutes, and once time is up I move onto the next task. This is a great safety net in case you do get distracted.
4. Turn off all notifications:
When I first started writing, I would get excited about every comment and like notification! As my writing became more popular, lots more likes, comments, and notifications were pinging me.
I'm still so excited about every interaction and getting to connect with my audience, but I had to turn off notifications. I was constantly being pinged which interrupted my workflow.
Now, I have set schedules to check each of my channels which cuts down on digital distractions overall.
