How To Stop Your Phone From Being A Distraction!

You can make serious arguments for smartphones being the best and worst invention of the modern generation. They let you do so many things and make life more convenient, but it's hard to deny how much of a distraction they are. Like most people, you find yourself staring at your phone for hours on end, eating away at your productivity. It's even worse when you have work to do, largely because 80% of your time is spent scrolling through Instagram. Ultimately, this leaves you with too much to do in a little space of time, making you work too hard and to a low standard.

So, how can you stop your phone from being a distraction?

Switch it to silent mode and hide it

One simple idea is to put your phone on silent and move it away from where you work. You could place it behind you, in a different room; wherever you like. If you can't see or hear your phone, you will feel less distracted by it. Avoiding the temptation to turn around and use your phone can be hard at first, but you get better at it.

Block certain numbers

The previous tactic might not work if you depend on your phone to receive important work phone calls. In which case, you need to keep the sound on - though you can still hide it out of sight. Sadly, you might get bombarded with countless calls from private or strange numbers every day. They force you to pick up your phone, and you've suddenly become distracted. Therefore, blocking these numbers is a brilliant way to prevent distractions. When a weird number calls, you can use an app like this one to trace it and see who is calling you. Effectively, you see if it's a legitimate call or a scammer. If it's the latter, you can block that number and it won't call again. You should reach a point where as many dodgy numbers are blocked as possible, limiting the calls you get per day, meaning you're only distracted by proper work calls!

Use a productivity app

Some apps exist that encourage you to be more productive. There's one called Forest that's become very popular in the last couple of years. Basically, it's an app where you grow virtual trees by keeping the app open and doing your work. The longer you stay within the app, the more trees you grow. It's a smart way of encouraging you to not go out of the app and use social media or anything else that might distract you. There's a gamification element to it that makes it so addictive - you want to grow as many trees as possible and it's almost like you're testing yourself every day. So, this proves that you can actually use your phone to make you more productive, rather than letting it be a distraction.

If you struggle to focus because you're always on your phone, try the tips above. Even something as simple as hiding your device can prevent distractions and keep you focused.