Four Tips to Boost Productivity With Healthy Technology Habits

Our access to lightning-fast information is incredible, revolutionary, often essential to productivity… and actually very distracting. Even if you’re trying to avoid these distractions, they seem to appear everywhere you turn. I don’t know if you’d noticed yet, but even this article is being beamed into your eye-holes through an array of satellites and blue lights. It’s easy to get caught up in notifications or media, especially if you’re working from home. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. When I first began writing at home, the diversions were endless. Luckily, this particular diversion includes a few tips to improve your habits with devices.

Break a Habit to Build One

For most of us, the day starts with an all-too-familiar alarm. You reach over, silence it, and you’re immediately looking at a screen. There’s a very important decision next: put it down now, or keep at it? Your half-awake brain probably wants some flashy lights, but that’s actually a good way to wreck your day. Research shows that your half-awake state in the morning is not a bug; it’s a feature of your brain. When you interrupt that state, you force yourself to skip important processing. Your subconscious prediction of your day is replaced by random information.

That information also usually releases dopamine. Dopamine is a major factor in productivity. Its primary purpose is to motivate us towards or away from something. When you frontload the dopamine, you’re reinforcing a motivation towards the distraction, and away from your real goals. Avoiding your phone early in the morning makes it easier to focus on what really matters to you. The best way to build this habit is to try to get up and immediately decide on something to do for at least one hour. Personally, I prefer to meditate or work on some chores. If you find that this is a struggle, pay attention to how your brain convinces you to check the phone. It’s usually related to emotion and not logic. Resist that emotion, and you’ll be more motivated towards your real goals.

Time Limits: Productivity Hack

We’ve all tried to start a habit with willpower once or twice. It’s a very impressive mental image, just deciding to change and doing it. However, we usually fall flat, especially with limiting technology. The foremost reason for this is the addictive nature of our phones. Start to take back your time by setting time limits. There are options for Android and iOS to set time limits for specific apps, either in the settings of the device or the settings of a given app.

What you’ll see is that, even with a reminder to limit an app, you might not want to in the moment. This is largely because of what experts call nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone. In an article by Well+Good, Iowa State researcher Dr. Hallet calls nomophobia “FOMO in overdrive,” a combination of “the fear of not being able to connect with people, of losing our connectedness, of not being able to access information, and of being inconvenienced.” Case studies by Iowa State indicate that your best bet is to accept that it won’t be perfect, and keep trying anyway. Pay attention to your improvement over time, and don’t worry too much about the occasional slip.

Separation of Sleep, Entertainment, and Working Habits

We’ve established that your phone can have side effects on your morning routine, but what about falling asleep? Unsurprisingly, yes; using technology too soon before sleeping can have negative effects. Your sleep might be strained and less restful if you’re checking emails or social media in bed. But what about the reverse? It turns out, you’re more likely to become tired while working, if you have a habit of working where you sleep. Similarly (and sadly), binging a full season of your favorite show in bed can leave your mind racing instead of powering down.

Any disruption to your sleep can have major consequences for your productivity. In an article by Harvard Business Review, Dr. Charles Czeisler discusses a study of medical residents: “In a study our research team conducted of hospital interns who had been scheduled to work for at least 24 consecutive hours, we found that their odds of stabbing themselves with a needle or scalpel increased 61%…” This shows that, while you may want to clear a few more emails or check a few posts before going to sleep, it also might ruin your productivity tomorrow. It’s best to keep these things separate as much as possible.

So, When DO We Get to Our Doom Scrolling?

Not in the first hour of the day or in bed, and not too long in a sitting; sounds restrictive. One other thing: try not to look at your phone during breaks while you’re working. A study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions indicates that looking at the phone itself, and not any particular app, can crush your concentration. So, how can we justify texting our friends back or updating our page, when it’s apparently always bad to look at our favorite device? The trick is being aware of when you’re most productive and leaning into it, because everyone is different. If you’re a morning person, it’s probably better that you push back on social media until the afternoon. Everyone knows that the opposite is true, too; a night owl doesn’t get much done in the AM. But, did you know that things are more complicated than that?

There are six different chronotypes, or rhythms people function by. They were distinguished by a team of chronobiologists from the Institute of Medicine of RUDN University. They include highly active, moderately active, daytime, and daytime-sleepy types. So, if you’re the daytime-sleepy type, maybe your lunch break should be spent relaxing instead of struggling to stay awake with busywork. Maybe you’re the opposite, and you can afford to check Facebook in the morning before the sun really rouses you. This is the core reason why flexible hours are known to improve productivity. Once you know your best hours to work, you can choose the best hours to relax, too.

Now Get to it – And Bring Good Technology Habits With You

Technology can be your greatest resource, or a thorn in your side, especially with big app companies competing for your attention. Don’t forget to be careful with how and when you use it, and you’ll notice that your experience improves. The good news: you’re already getting there. By taking the time to read this article, you became more aware of how your technology might be affecting you, and hopefully picked up some helpful tips. If you keep up an interest in improving your habits, there’s always more to learn and more room to grow. Until next time – best of luck.

Photo Credits

Photo by Miriam Alonso from Pexels

Photo by UrbanOrigami from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Sebastian Allen

Sebastian Allen I’m Sebastian Allen, and I help connect mental health, productivity, and technology through digital marketing. I specialize in making sure that the voices of brands that deserve to be heard can get to the people that need to hear them. I first came into this process aiming to help raise awareness and availability of mental health solutions. Too often these things are overlooked or even stigmatized.

Aside from that, this is my way of moving towards my passion of creative and informative writing. I’ve always loved sharing new ideas and thoughts with people, and I have always wanted to publish a fantasy novel. The best way to be a writer, after all, is to start writing and never stop, so here I am.

When I’m not working, I enjoy time with my wife and my two puppies at our home in PA. Together we go on long walks and oscillate between wishing it were cooler and wishing it were summertime.

Blog / Website: https://medium.com/@sebastian.allen917

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