In a professional context, digital distraction can hinder collaboration and productivity. Constantly checking emails or responding to instant messages during meetings can disrupt the flow of communication and hinder problem-solving.

It can also lead to burnout, as we struggle to disengage from work-related digital communication even during personal time. Digital distraction can also disrupt our sleep patterns, leading to sleep deprivation and its associated mental and emotional health issues.

The blue light emitted by screens interferes with the production of melatonin, a hormone crucial for sleep regulation. Prolonged exposure to screens before bedtime can make it difficult to fall asleep and result in poor sleep quality. The disruption of sleep patterns due to digital distraction also has implications for our physical health.

Sleep deprivation can weaken the immune system, making us more susceptible to illnesses. It can also lead to weight gain, as lack of sleep impacts our hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.

Over time, consistent sleep deprivation can increase the risk of chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. One of the most noticeable consequences of digital distraction is sedentary behavior. Excessive screen time often leads to a more sedentary lifestyle, as we spend hours sitting in front of computers, binge-watching TV shows, or scrolling through our phones.

Prolonged periods of inactivity are associated with various health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and musculoskeletal problems. Moreover, the improper use of digital devices, such as hunching over a smartphone or laptop, can lead to poor posture and related ailments.

Similarly, "computer vision syndrome" encompasses a range of eye problems arising from staring at screens for extended periods, including eyestrain, dry eyes, and headaches.

What can we do to minimize the impact of digital distraction on so many aspects of our health and wellbeing? Recognizing the negative impact of digital distraction on our health is a first step toward addressing the issue.

Fortunately, there are several strategies we can employ to regain control over our digital lives:. Digital distraction is a pervasive issue in our modern world.

The constant connectivity and enticing design of digital technologies make it challenging to break free from its grip. However, by recognizing the negative impact of digital distraction and implementing strategies to combat it, we can regain control over our lives and prioritize our well-being.

Balancing the benefits of technology with mindful consumption is essential in preserving our health and enhancing our overall quality of life. skip to Cookie Notice skip to Main Navigation skip to Main Content skip to Footer. Home - News My Ph. advisor had worked at Bell Labs for a long time, which was a premier research institution, and he enjoyed the work.

So after getting my Ph. There was a job opportunity that I heard about at a research institute affiliated with a company called Electronic Data Systems. They needed a psychologist to study how groups were using technology, and my Ph. was in group decision making.

So it was a really good fit. So after decades of research, what motivated you to write this book? My work for the most part has been published for an academic audience, but from time to time, I speak with journalists, and I always thought it would be interesting to share my work with a wider audience.

Did it surprise you that we spend on average 47 seconds on a screen before shifting our attention? It did! I started studying attention spans with my student, Victor Gonzalez , back in , and at the time, we found that people were spending two and a half minutes on a screen.

So this was a considerable decrease, and yes, I was surprised, though I too had had felt myself switching attention a lot.

But remember, this is an average. Sometimes we can stay focused for longer, but the median length of time in the last five years is only 40 seconds. That means half of all our observations are less than 40 seconds on any screen. And this has been replicated by independent studies as well.

Do we need to change our behavior? Yes, but we need to think about it as a cultural shift. In the book, I talk about how change has to come at three levels. First is individually. I think people can develop their own agency to control their attention better.

I outline ways to do this at the individual level. Then, on the organizational level, some companies have proposed batching emails, which is sending email out only two or three times a day. We find that people check email, on average, 77 times a day.

An early study that I did back in showed that when email was cut off for a work week, people significantly increased focus and their stress level went down. Of course this is not a feasible solution. But on a societal level, there are also things we can do. This handout shares tips and tools to help you minimize distractions and stay on track when it matters most.

Anything that limits the interruptions or temptations caused by technology will help you stay focused on your studies and enter the deep concentration needed for effective learning. Try any of the following:. Remember your goals. Write a message or letter to your future self to remind yourself of your goals.

Read this message when you find yourself being pulled into distractions. Put sticky notes and reminders to stay focused on your laptop, on the wall, and on your phone background. Remember your reasons. Write down your WHY—why you want to do well in school and what you are working for.

Your reason could be to make your family proud, to be the first one in your family to graduate from college, to get a high enough GPA to get into law school, or to do well enough to secure a good job after college.

Post your WHY somewhere visible where you will see it frequently to remind yourself of what you are working for and why you need to focus. Check out these videos for further inspiration and explanation. Convert your distractions into rewards. Some distractions are just idle habits.

For example, you could try a Pomodoro method, where 45 minutes of studying earns 10 minutes of something you enjoy. Make staying focused a game.

Forest is an app that allows you to build a tree on your phone whenever you want to focus. Once you start growing the tree, if you leave the app and go somewhere else on your phone, the tree dies.

The app records how many trees you grow over the course of time. The Forest team partners with real life tree-planting organizations; when you spend coins you earn in Forest, they donate to tree planting.

Make a list. Use a list-making or to-do app, like Toodledo , Workflowy , Remember The Milk , or Evernote. Track your progress. Phocus App includes timers, progress bar, pace-settings for work and break time. Control what you see.

For starters, most apps and web content are engineered to be as user-friendly and addictive as possible. They ping us with notifications when we get a new message or when someone has posted something we might be interested in.

And we know there is always something new to look at. We might also feel some pressure to keep up. But there are also some less-obvious reasons why kids may be particularly hooked.

Phones are where young people do a lot of their socializing now , especially as they reach the pre-teen and teenage years, when their major developmental goals are to start crafting an identity separate from their parents and to prioritize forming friendships with their peers — goals that are made for spending hours on social media.

Compared to adults, kids also have a less developed ability to control their impulses. Many adults and kids share the idea that when we are texting or monitoring feeds while we work we are still being productive — we are able to juggle everything at once.

A study out of Stanford in examined how well multitaskers are able to process information. People considered heavy media multitaskers were found to have more difficulty ignoring irrelevant but distracting things in their environment. As a result they actually performed worse on a test of task switching ability when compared to people who were lighter multitaskers.

Cruger explains. While the work might still get finished, multitasking adds up to shallower thinking and more time spent actually working. At a Child Mind Institute event about how children are affected by technology, Ali Wentworth, actress, comedian and host of the event, described how she found her teenage daughter the evening before: She was doing her homework on one screen, texting on another, with Gilmore Girls playing on a third.

This is how I do my homework. In reality, multitasking during homework can be particularly difficult for kids who have ADHD. That might be because the constant stimulation offered by tech devices is very appealing to kids with ADHD.

Short bursts of attention, with immediate rewards, are easier for them than paying sustained attention. But trying to do both at the same time — juggling homework and Snapchat — would be particularly difficult for them. These are all skills that are integral to doing homework and they are weakened further when we are dividing our attention across multiple platforms.

Given that kids with ADHD are particularly susceptible to the stimulation that tech devices provide, and that focusing on homework is already harder for them, successfully doing both would be incredibly difficult.

Setting up a homework routine that minimizes distractions is important, especially if your child struggles with attention, or seems to be finding that her homework is taking much longer than it should. Let her know that the goal is to make doing homework easier and less stressful.

Removing those distractions should improve her homework experience and leave her with more actual free time. Skip to main menu Skip to content Skip to footer. Internet Explorer is no longer supported Please upgrade to Microsoft Edge , Google Chrome , or Firefox.

How Phones Ruin Concentration by Rachel Ehmke. Get this as a PDF. Enter email to download and get news and resources in your inbox. Share this on social Copy Link Link Copied Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Download.

How Phones Ruin Concentration Multitasking leads to shallower thinking and more time spent working, especially for kids who struggle with attention Writer: Rachel Ehmke Clinical Expert: Matthew Cruger, PhD en Español.

Why are kids with ADHD more vulnerable to tech distraction? How can parents help kids not be distracted by phones? Quick Read.

Full Article. Distraction devices. Then, on the organizational level, some companies have proposed batching emails, which is sending email out only two or three times a day.

We find that people check email, on average, 77 times a day. An early study that I did back in showed that when email was cut off for a work week, people significantly increased focus and their stress level went down. Of course this is not a feasible solution.

But on a societal level, there are also things we can do. France has the El Khomri Law , Ontario has its Workers Act of and Ireland has its Code of Practice Act. These are good models to consider.

Do you think this inability to disconnect was made worse by the pandemic? So my best guess is that the answer is yes. One thing that we do know, and this was a study that I did, is that when people started the stay-at-home orders, they experienced a slippage into their natural chronotypes.

And so we saw this slippage, and it was particularly manifest in teams, so they had less overlap time. We looked at teams who were in greater alignment with their time at work, versus less alignment, and found that there were, of course, differences.

We already know this from when we work with people across different time zones. I get up and already have messages from them. So yes, I think COVID probably exacerbated some of that. The book includes a survey to help people identify their own natural rhythm.

Can that help us better organize our daily work? I found in my research that people tend to have times of peak focus. For most people, it happens in mid to late morning and also mid to late afternoon.

But this coincides with the ebb and flow of our cognitive resources. We know that from decades of laboratory research. So if you can identify when your peak focus occurs, you should plan to do your hardest and most creative work around those peak times.

And before and after those times, you should take breaks to replenish your resources. Consider that we have limited attentional capacity, and use it wisely.

Can you also talk about the four myths presented in the book? People need to take breaks. This is the same. Another myth is that so-called mindless activity is terrible.

Focus requires effort, and most of us in our type of work use an analytical mindset. The last myth is that notifications and targeted algorithms are solely to blame for our lack of attention. The point is, we live in a world that exerts so many other influences on our attention. There are individual factors, but there is also our nature.

Even the design of the internet, with its node and link structure, mirrors so well the way human memory is theorized to be organized. So, who is the target audience for your book, and what do you hope is their main takeaway? My goal was to communicate the science so it would be accessible to all these readers.

And I hope the book gets people to develop conversations about our behavior — our attention behavior in our digital culture — and to understand the science behind the distractions.

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