The age of constant distractions
The struggle to maintain focus is becoming increasingly real. The information age, with its bright and shiny new world, has certain glaring flaws. In order to enjoy the fruits that this new world bears, we ought to tackle them consciously.
#TheStruggleIsReal
The current age is termed as the 'information age'. Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, termed the current decade, i.e, 2021-2030, as the 'techade' (tech-decade) . All these terms sound cool, fancy and provides ample opportunities with them. We must and should make the most of these advancements in technology, where no information is more than a few clicks away and every single person has the opportunity to broadcast their thoughts, views and stories. Alas, there is another side of this story. Here we go!
Humans now have an attention span shorter than a goldfish
The lost art of concentration
Headlines such as these are now common across digital media. I am sure most of the readers have heard variations of these two headlines time and again. Many of you might have developed 'hacks' to help boost your productivity and stay focused.
My everyday issues: Lack of productivity and/or abundance of distractions.
- I get up and there are notifications. Some friends, some luring applications, some from the people who you forgot even existed.
- Slack notifications: While scrolling through my notifications, the most important one is of course the updates from your work (I work from home). You can't ignore them so you get into it and your morning is most probably ruined already.
- Now I want to feel better, I go to youtube, watch a few videos, and by some f**king mistake, I end up clicking on one of the Youtube Shorts videos, the black hole of time.
- I somehow remember I work for someone and get to it without properly going through the morning routine. Pop! Cling! A few notifications show up, and I ignore them.
- Pop! and Cling! Tring Tring's 10x and to ignore all would be tedious, so I put my phone on silent mode.
- Nervousness sets in whether I've missed an important call or a message that's urgent for me to attend to. I see my phone, and oops! an hour goes by.
- Point 5-6 occur repeatedly throughout the day and within no time the day comes to an end. I now feel I should've focused more, done more work, been more productive and let this guilt stay, assuming tomorrow would be different.
- Tomorrow comes and guess what? Deja-f**king-vu!
This is my everyday. I've probably wasted 2 of the last 5 years due to these issues and variations of them.
I now have decided that the answer lies within me and hope the reader knows that they are NOT ALONE. Will Power can play a decisive role in curbing these issues. Along with it there are a few tips we should all follow.
My 2 cents: Tips, tricks and hacks that I've started employ
- Don't touch electronic gadgets for communication/information for the first 30-45mins of your day. Give your brain time to get adjusted to the new day.
- Turn off notifications for all apps except for those that are really important.
- If something is really important you'll get a call, you don't need to attend to every notification or message that comes your way.
- Social media events are not real world events.
- Discipline is the source of freedom. Schedule your work day. Mention the exact time for breakfast, lunch, other breaks, and make sure to allow yourself leisure time within that schedule.
- For WFH people specifically: Let your family and friends who stay with you know that you're working. It's difficult for people around you to know you're boundaries unless you ENFORCE them.
Would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading.
