Ever scrolled through social media for what felt like minutes, only to realise an hour has passed?
Well, you’re not alone.
Push notifications, constant alerts, addictive & highly personalised algorithms, are just a few of the ways technology firms hijack our attention.
You may have even heard that our attention span is now less than that of a goldfish.
Although this isn’t necessarily true, studies have shown our ability to focus has declined by around 47% since 2004, largely due to the increase in digital distractions around us.
However, through the digital chaos, there are still many strategies that you can use to help get your focus back.
Follow me as we look into the science behind how attention works, the distraction process, and key strategies you can implement to regain your focus to become more productive.
What Is Attention Span?
Attention span in short is the amount of time you can concentrate on a single task or idea before becoming distracted.
This ability allows us to focus our mental resources on relevant information while filtering out irrelevant stimuli.
The Attention Hijack Process
Now, let me give you a bite size science lesson to explain how the distraction process happens.
POV: You just received a DM on Instagram
The process begins with our Reticular Activating System (RAS).
This network acts as a gatekeeper of your awareness, sorting through information detected by your senses and determining whether it identifies it as important or novel (like that notification that popped up on your lock screen).
If the new information passes the RAS, it will be sent to the Prefrontal Cortex.
The Prefrontal Cortex considers your past experiences (from using Instagram), and the potential Dopamine Reward, such as the giggles you’ll probably get from watching the reel you’ve just been sent.
And just like that, you’ve opened Instagram, now you’re scrolling through your explore page, when you were meant to be working on that business idea you’ve been sleeping on for months.
Impact of Persuasive Technology on Focus
Ever wondered what makes platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram so addictive, that even when you’re bored with them, you keep going back?
This is largely due to persuasive technology at work.
Persuasive technology refers to the design features tech companies use in their platforms to keep us engaged.
These features, often leverage our psychology and aim to influence our behaviours & attitudes.
Features like infinite scrolling, which gives users endless exposure to new content.
The use of Red notification alerts to create a sense of urgency to open apps immediately to prevent feelings of FOMO.
Even autoplay features, ensuring you watch that next episode, even when you told yourself “last one”.
The sad reality is that we are the ones paying the high price with our attention and ability to focus on the important tasks we set out to complete.
But here’s how you can fight back…
Tips for Regaining Focus and Boosting Productivity
1. Awareness of Digital Overuse
Just like overcoming any behavioural issue, tackling digital overuse starts with first acknowledging the problem exists.
This is recognised as the ‘contemplation’ phase in psychologist, James Prochaska’s six stage model.
A practical way of doing this could be to monitor your daily screen time average, to see how much time you’re spending on social media & non-productive apps.
The recommended limit is 2 hours per day.
So if you’re not using social media for business/venture productive purposes, you may want to consider reducing these numbers.
2. Optimise Devices for Focus
Although we’ve looked at the various ways tech companies steal your attention, there are still many in-built features you can use to help reduce these effects:
Do Not Disturb (DND), Silent mode and Screen Time are simple features you can use that can filter out non-urgent notifications distracting you in focus periods.
These features will not necessarily make you ‘indistractable‘, but they can remind you of your conscious decision to stay more focused and help you deter digital distractions.
3. Time Scheduling
You may be surprised to hear this but, scheduling time to engage in distractions is just as important as scheduling time for deep work, which involves working on a task for a set amount of time without distractions.
An easy way to do this is to use the Pomodoro technique.
This strategy involves setting a timer for focused work (usually 25 minutes) followed by a short break (usually 5 minutes).
This technique makes focus periods more productive by reducing the feelings of overwhelm and stress from working for excessive amounts of time.
Knowing you’re guaranteed a short break in 25 minutes can influence greater motivation for focused work, and can reduce those impulsive habits to scroll on social media whenever you’re dealing with a hard task.
4. 10-minute rule
The 10-minute rule, proposed by productivity expert Nir Eyal, allows you to give in to any urge or distraction
… You just have to wait 10 minutes to do it.
The delay allows you to acknowledge your urges, and understand its source (boredom? Stress? Feelings of FOMO? ).
After waiting 10 minutes or more, the strong urge to give in to that distraction is often reduced, and occasionally forgotten.
I personally love this one because it essentially gives you the freedom to give into a bad habit, whilst gradually helping you improve your overall self-control.
Watch from 17:37–27:33 if you want a deeper explanation from Nir Eyal how you can use this for any bad habit.
5. Move Your Body & Strengthen Your Focus
Physical activity can help boost our brain power, and mental toughness, making it just that bit easier holding off those urges to drift off and check your notifications.
Benefits of Physical Activity for Focus:
- Increases blood flow to the brain, delivering nutrients that fuel concentration.
- Promotes new brain cell growth, leading to sharper thinking and improved focus.
- Lowers stress hormone levels that cloud your mind and make you give into those digital distractions easier.
Just to clarify, physical activity doesn’t require you to slave away in the gym for hours every week.
This could be as simple as going for a brisk walk on your lunch, taking the stairs instead of the lift throughout the day, swimming or even playing your favourite sport.
Regaining Control in a Distracted World
The constant fight for our attention is real and ultimately unavoidable. The development of new technology and algorithms is only going to make it harder to stay focused.
But the power to stay focused to achieve our full potential is internal and cannot be achieved using a single app or website blocker.
By implementing some of the strategies I’ve offered and finding solutions that work best for you, we can lead on a better path to reaching higher levels of productivity for our personal set goals, ventures and business ideas.
See you at the Top!
