For anyone trying to become more productive in a digital age dominated by phones and technology, there are some long-touted tactics they’ll inevitably encounter: conserving willpower, working to find motivation, an endless variety of productivity “hacks” and apps. But it turns out that none of these things are the key to actually getting more done. […]
Smartphones
Overcoming Smartphone Addiction: How to Effectively Reduce Mindless Screen Time
In my articles about digital productivity, I’ve discussed topics like tech habit formation and getting into a flow state. But in order to truly assess our productivity today, we need to grapple with one particular piece of equipment that promises to make our lives easier but in reality causes all sorts of new problems. To find […]
Reaching a Flow State for Improved Digital Productivity
Staying productive in a digital and tech-addicted world is far from easy, and it’s easy to get sidetracked by the allure of shiny new tools like apps, browser plugins, and the like that all promise to give you results. But in order to achieve significant and lasting behavioral change, you need to start within. This […]
Continuous Partial Attention: How Devices Negatively Affect Our Focus
In today’s environment of constant connectivity, we routinely slog through multiple tasks in a single session. Blinking notifications pull us away from whatever we had been doing to something more pressing. We surf the web by opening up multiple browser tabs and scrolling back and forth between various articles, email accounts, social media streams and other […]
Is Staring at Screens Too Long Harmful to My Health?
These days, not many of us earn our paychecks by laboring out in the fields or at a factory. The transition to a knowledge economy has resulted in some great advantages, but it also means that more and more jobs now consist of sitting at a desk all day starting at a computer. New research […]
Can Smartphones Better Connect Us To, Not Distract Us From, the Real World?
Recently I wrote about location-based mobile apps and their ability to allow us to interact with our surrounding environment. Examples of this trend include “checking in” to a business, finding other people nearby or redeeming a special deal. Beyond possible issues with surveillance and ad targeting, this business of walking around using our smartphones raises another crucial […]