Freedom Founder Fred Stutzman Talks Digital Habits with The Digital Mindfulness Podcast

The Digital Mindfulness Podcast: Freedom Founder Fred Stutzman Talks Digital Habits

Freedom Founder Fred Stutzman recently had the opportunity to sit down with the folks at Digital Mindfulness to discuss the importance of intentionally connecting to the internet and its impact on our productivity, creativity, and daily lives.

Digital Mindfulness is a London-based independent think tank, whose mission is to “help businesses and individuals thrive in an age of digital distractions.” As a thought leader in productivity and digital practices, they provide research, data, and events to professionals through a blog and podcast and are completely supported by their readers.

The host, Lawrence Ampofo, opens with the question: “why did you start this company that helps people block digital distractions?”

As the founder of Freedom, a platform that blocks digital distractions across all of your devices, Fred explains the importance of using an internet blocker and its effects on one’s focus and productivity. He explains that he came up with the idea for Freedom while struggling with digital distraction while writing his dissertation. He first realized he was having trouble focusing when his favorite coffee shop added wifi. Once he realized his productivity was taking addiction from his newly found access to wifi – he decided to write a program that would block the internet while he worked. A year later, and more than 500,000 downloads later, Stutzman realized he was not alone with his battle against digital distractions.

Fred also explains the need to be more aware of our digital practices. Fred talks about getting the question of “is something like Freedom really necessary in order to be productive? Why can’t people just use self-control? “I never thought human behavior was the issue here – I always thought it was a problem with technology,” Stutzman says. He explains that the rapidly-evolving pace of technology has left many of us without the necessary tools to combat digital distractions that are designed to hook us and keep attention for as long as possible.