Smartphones with their notifications are a great distraction. They shouldn’t be eliminated, but dosed in the right way to survive a day at the office or an afternoon of schoolwork
How long are we able to maintain concentration? The New York Times cites an interesting “experiment” carried out by Gloria Mark, a professor of computer science at the University of California which involved employees busy in the office. In the first test, which dates back to 2004, the professor measured with a stopwatch Everything is fine how long people changed activities on their computer, going from a spreadsheet to an email to a web page and then back to the spreadsheet to discover that on average the participants spent two and a half minutes on an activity before changing it. The same experiment repeated in 2012 showed that time spent on a single job was reduced to 75 seconds.
Multitasking: a false myth
Multitasking is a myth to dispel: it does not improve our efficiency. Every time we interrupt the mental task we are performing our emotional and cognitive involvement deteriorates. It has been observed in laboratory studies that mentally jumping between two simultaneous tasks drops the efficiency of cognitive processing by up to 50 percent compared to performing the same tasks sequentially. And attention: it can take more than 20 minutes to return to the same level of concentration as before the interruption.
Looking for self-control
Once it is clarified that hopping from one task to another brings more disadvantages than advantages, the problem is: how to avoid it? Anyone who has ever tried studying for an exam, writing a report, or reading a book knows how difficult it is to concentrate for long periods of time. Generally they are just the digital devices to be responsible for interruptions. Cell phones, always present, disintegrate our concentration because the eye, good or bad, is always there. But how do you regain control of attention? Serve self controlbut you don’t necessarily have to give up on technology.
An emblematic study
In a 2021 study a group of psychologists involved in a social experiment people smartphone addicted. Participants were first applied to skin sensors connected to a computer that could detect the level of arousal. Then the researchers took their phones away with the excuse that they might interfere with the equipment. At that point the researchers sent numerous messages to the participants’ phones: the cell phones were close enough to hear them ring and vibrate but too far away to control them. Every time the devices rang the excitement increased some volunteers: they would have liked to answer or at least check who was writing, but not being able to do their own anxiety level increased.
Understanding the source of distraction
It’s notifications one of major sources of distraction. Those burst “beeps” (but also the simple vibration) that announce a message on WhatsApp or an email are harmful and push us to always check our device. After all, our brains are designed to pay attention to news and it is almost impossible to ignore these warnings. And if you ignore them, you end up increasing anxiety, as the aforementioned study shows.
External and internal distractions
The advice, almost obvious is turn off or at least temporarily silence notifications in order to regain sufficient concentration to complete a task. However, external distractions are only part of the reason work stops. According to Dr. Mark, one also takes over internal motivation in wanting to change tasks. In the experiments it was found that as the number of external interrupts decreased the number of self-interruptions increased. In short, if we are not interrupted by someone, we are the ones who stop. Larry Rosen, professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, hypothesizes thatself-distraction are caused by stress. Frequent use of smartphones is in fact related to high levels of cortisol and other indicators of stress. When there are no notifications, “people get anxious and have to check,” says Rosen. So it happens to find yourself opening and closing apps looking for messages or notifications that aren’t even there in reality.
Self-control
People cannot be expected to maintain their concentration for an extended period of time, any more than they can be expected to lift weights all day long. Probably a ten minute walk around the block would be the ideal break to recharge, however there’s nothing wrong with unwinding by watching social media or playing a video game to recharge. The problem is when breaks get a little too long and this is where it is important to insert a timer to facilitate self-monitoring.
A technological break
To increase one’s attention span, Dr. Rosen suggests a “tech break.” What does it consist of? Before starting an activity that requires some concentration, you can take a couple of minutes to open your favorite apps for checking. After that, you set the the timer is 15 minutes and mutes the phone, turning it away with the screen facing down. When the timer rings, you have a couple of minutes to check your phone (pause technique) and then start the same cycle again, before taking a longer break from work (the pattern is similar to the famous Pomodoro Technique). The goal is to gradually increase the time between one technology break and the next: starting with 15 minutes and then extending to 20 or 30 minutes.
Increased awareness
Another strategy Dr. Mark recommends is gaining more self-awareness in relation to using technology. When maybe Instagram or Tik Tok opens automatically, you should ask yourself why you do it. I need a break? Will it help me recharge? After a few minutes, however, the recreational aspect fades and it’s time to get back to work.
January 27, 2023 (change January 27, 2023 | 12:41)
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