9 Ways Your Smartphone Disrupts Your Work

The smartphone has given us instant connection and access to unlimited knowledge while helping to improve our lives. But, spending too much time on social media, constantly receiving notifications, and sleeping near your smartphone could be hurting your productivity more than you think.

Here are 10 smartphone habits that are hurting your productivity.

1. Checking emails on your phone every 5 minutes

Mindlessly checking emails on our phone can easily take us out of the flow state that productivity requires. Psychotherapist Jordana Jacobs said "Smartphones take us out of being in the present. When we’re constantly checking those work and personal emails, it puts us in the mindset of, “I’m doing this rather than just being where I am now.”

2. Taking a photo every single time something vaguely interesting happens

Constantly taking out your smartphone to take a photo can keep you from being in the moment. Today's smartphones are equipped with state-of-the-art cameras, enabling us to take high-quality pictures.

Though it’s great to want to take a picture here and there to have a memento of a particular moment, Jacobs said taking too many photos is another way of taking us from living in the now.

3. Being obsessed with what everyone else is doing on social media

Checking social media on a smartphone makes us obsessed with what everyone else is doing. Now that we're so occupied with social media, we're sacrificing the time we could've used to finish the actual task in front of us.

Social media can feed our obsession with other people’s lives, but Jacobs said it’s also a platform for us to boast to our followers about what we are doing or have done. 

4. Too much texting, not enough face-to-face conversation

Texting others can keep you from conversing with the people around you. Texting and messaging other people can have us more focused on what those people are currently doing, which distracts us from working on anything productive.

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5. Having your phone out all the time, leaving no time for self-reflection

Having your phone out all the time keeps you from taking a moment to be alone and reflect on what you need to get done. Jacobs said she believes that we have lost the capacity to be alone.

“We now think of the phone as our primary attachment figure; all of the people we know and love live in the phone, that’s how we talk to them,” she said. “We never actually have space by ourselves to contemplate, reflect, or gain insight into the self, in the way we used to be able to.”

Knowing and growing ourselves can be the most productive work we do, and our phones often get in the way of this.

6. Productivity apps can help you stay focused, but they can also hurt your efforts.

Though there are some productivity apps that can be helpful, psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert believes that relying only on these apps or downloading the wrong one can actually do the opposite. According to him, the most effective approach to stay productive is to have the right mindset.

“How someone thinks can significantly impact their behaviours, drive, and ultimately their output,” he said. “People should feel encouraged that developing a go-getter mindset is possible.”

7. Too many notifications distract you

Alpert said these notifications (whether it’s a text message or news alert) can distract you from finishing whatever work you have started. He suggested shutting off social media notifications completely.

“These merely serve as a distraction and probably don’t contain anything urgent,” he said.

8. Opening one app can lead to opening another, and another, and another…

Don't go down the rabbit hole of distraction. It's very easy to fall into it with all these apps and other features of smartphones..

Alpert said, “Rarely do people go online or on their phones and stick to the intended reason for checking their phones. If they’re checking weather, that might then lead to checking email, messages, or reading a news story – all this serves as a gross distraction and impacts productivity.”

9. The light from your phone screen affects your sleep quality

According to Alpert, blue light is thought to enter the brain through the eyes and impact the pineal gland. This gland plays a role in melatonin production, the hormone that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles.

He goes on to say that the devices used close to bed could affect one's ability to get proper rest. This will have an intense effect on mood, energy levels, and ability to focus and complete tasks.

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Source: Business Insider

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