Clickbait. You’re probably guilty of falling for it at some point. You’re reading an article online about midterm elections, and as you read the last sentence, a headline at the bottom of the article catches your eye. “They Thought They Were Alone, But The Deputy Didn’t Know A Camera Was Filming.”
What did the deputy do? You click the link.
Are you satisfied with the amount of time you spend staring at screens? For an almost overwhelming majority of us, the answer is ‘nope.’
Digital distraction is everywhere, stealing away our attention and time and forcing us to battle with our self-control minute by minute.
Fortunately, tech can help us as much as it can harm us when it comes to digital distraction. Here are a few apps you should know about to help you reclaim your attention, focus, and time.
For most of us, social media and the internet has become a normal part of everyday life. We use these platforms daily to communicate, share, and connect with friends, family, colleagues and strangers. But despite being more connected than ever, are we any better off? Are we any happier?
I’m the king of procrastination. Seriously, I’m the worst. I somehow manage to spend 100x more energy not doing something than a fraction of the same energy simply doing said thing. It makes no sense, but I have an incredible knack for talking myself out of getting moving on a project. If this sounds like you, I assure you, we’re a lot alike. For me, it’s starting that’s the hard part and unfortunately, what I’ve found is that there’s no trick for getting going. The reality is, you have to just dive in. Prolific advice, right? (I’m pretty much the Shia Labeouf of doing important shit.) Just do it. Really though, I think what’s important here is reminding myself that often times the work I push off isn’t actually that hard. While there’s no magic pill for getting into a project, I have found a couple tricks that help get over the hurdle and allow me to settle in on work that I’m less than enthused about.
Meet Adam Alter. Alter is a psychology and marketing professor at the University of New York and a New York Times best-selling author. His academic research focuses on judgment and decision-making, as well as social psychology – with a focus on how subtle cues in our environment shape our behaviors and thinking. His most recent work, Irresistible (2017), examines the troubling modern phenomena of behavioral addictions, especially in regard to many of our digital technologies, such as Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, Fitbit, and email.
The core idea of digital minimalism is to be more intentional about technology in your life. Digital minimalists carefully curate these technologies to best support things they value.
The idea sounds simple when presented at the high-level, but in practice it dissolves into complexities. One such complexity, which I want to explore here, is the notion of “value.”
January is the month of resolutions. We pledge to exercise more, eat better, save more, be more productive, be less stressed, wake up earlier, stop procrastinating, and just generally do more. We pledge to be happier.
Unfortunately, life is complicated and come February or March, our new routines are often abandoned and forgotten – which is normal! All of us are susceptible to losing our determination and motivation.
For 2017 we’ve created a five-part blog series that focuses less on adding and doing more, and more on simply being present and focused with things as they are. If you missed Part 1 on mindful meditation or Part 2 on being present with those who matter, Part 3 on improving your habits by improving your sleep, or Part 4 on making a schedule that helps you help yourself – click on the links above.
When you hear about the routines of the most productive people, they often include tasks like 5 a.m. wakeups, 6-mile jogs, and guilt-free smoothies. Tasks that should all be simple enough to incorporate if you are a well-oiled productivity machine – but unfortunately, chances are you’re not a robot.
For 2017 we’ve created a five-part blog series that focuses less on adding and doing more, and more on simply being present and focused with things as they are. If you missed Part 1 on mindful meditation or Part 2 on being present with those who matter, Part 3 on improving your habits by improving your sleep, click the links above!
January is the month of resolutions. Each year, we take time to review our lives and decide which habits we hope to create or get rid of in order to live a more fulfilling life.We pledge to exercise more, eat better, save more, be more productive, be less stressed, wake up earlier, stop procrastinating, and just generally do more. We pledge to be happier.
Unfortunately, life is complicated and come February or March, our new routines are often abandoned and forgotten – which is normal! All of us are susceptible to losing our determination and motivation.
For 2017 we’ve created a five-part blog series that focuses less on adding and doing more, and more on simply being present and focused with things as they are. If you missed Part 1 on mindful meditation or Part 2 on being present with those who matter, click on the links above.
January is the month of resolutions. Each year, we take time to review our lives and decide which habits we hope to create or get rid of in order to live a more fulfilling life.
We pledge to exercise more, eat better, save more, be more productive, be less stressed, wake up earlier, stop procrastinating, and just generally do more. We pledge to be happier. Unfortunately, life is complicated and come February or March, our new routines are often abandoned and forgotten – which is normal! All of us are susceptible to losing our determination and motivation.
This year, instead of always trying to do more, add more, and be more – try to focus on being present, accepting, and mindful of what you already have. Don’t wake up earlier to have more hours – rather change the way you’re using the hours you already have.
For 2017 we’ve created a five-part blog series that focuses less on adding and doing more, and more on simply being present and focused with things as they are. If you missed Part 1 on how mindful meditation can help you be present – you can check it out here.