This is going to be a controversial one.

A recent study from the University of Chicago confirmed what I've known for a long time (thanks to Colin Wright for pointing me towards it.) The title says it all: ‘The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity.’ Although I highly recommend reading the full paper, here’s a summary of the key findings:

“Given the chronic mismatch between the abundance of environmental information and the limited ability to process that information, individuals need to be selective in their allocation of attentional resources...The increasing integration of these devices into the minutiae of daily life both reflects and creates a sense that they are frequently relevant to their owners’ goals; it lays the foundation for automatic attention. Consistent with this position, research indicates that signals from one’s own phone ( but not someone else’s) activate the same involuntary attention system that responds to the sound of one’s own name….The mere presence of consumers’ smartphones can adversel3y affect two measures of cognitive capacity—available working memory capacity and functional fluid intelligence— without interrupting sustained attention or increase in the frequency of phone-related thoughts. Consumers who were engaged with ongoing cognitive tasks were able to keep their phones not just out of their hands, but also out of their (conscious) minds; however, the mere presence of these devices left fewer attentional resources available for engaging with the task at hand.”

In short, the presence of a smartphone is enough to make us dumber. An important finding to note is that the effect is directly proportional to how dependent people are on their phones. Those who are used to spending hours a day on them experience a greater decline in their cognitive capacity.

The solution is not to take a gentle approach. When I see people talking about taking an '24 hour social media detox' or blocking it for the first hour of the day, I am dumbfounded. That shit makes us stupid. It wastes our time. It permanently erodes our ability to focus and do meaningful work. It's addictive. The average person picks up their phone 85 times a day, including right before falling asleep and during the night. 91% of people never leave their homes without their phone. We shouldn't be talking about how much time we take away from social media. We should be talking about how much time we do spend on it. And if we're serious, we should be tracking that metric and doing something about it, if it is a problem.

And yes, I used to be a smartphone addict. I used to scroll social media until 3 am on a regular basis. I used to check it every few minutes. These days, my attitude to my phone could not be more different. I use it when I have a defined purpose, not to fill time. I treat it as a tool, not a form of entertainment. I leave it at home most of the time when I go out, and it’s common for me to not even look at it until late evening.

I did this for two main reasons:

1. To save time. The average person spends 120 minutes a day on social media. Or at least, that's according to self-reported data which is almost definitely on the low side. I used to spend about 3-4 hours a day on it.

2. To preserve my ability to focus and do deep work. This was a huge motivator. I had long felt the tangible impact on my concentration. Keeping my brain running at the highest level is my priority and feeling like a junkie who craves the next notification was unhelpful.

Here's a wonderful quote from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi which is relevant:

“Most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.

This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time. But it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real challenges. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere. Collectively we are wasting each year the equivalent of millions of years of human consciousness. The energy that could be used to focus on complex goals, to provide enjoyable growth, is squandered on patterns of stimulation that only mimic reality.”

This is why I think it's so important so reassess how you use social media and your smartphone. Not because I'm old-fashioned, or a Luddite or dislike the internet (I love it.) Because I desperately want everyone to be able to take control of their time within the limitations of their lifestyle. There is nothing intrinsically bad about social media; it's a tool and the poison is in the dose. It becomes negative when it a) takes up time which could be put to better use, b)begins to harm your ability to focus c) leads to an urge to fabricate a personal brand or d) literally anything which means the negatives outweigh the positives.

This is the process I have gone through, step by step, over the last year and a half to reclaim my ability to focus and not feel dependent on my phone. It's not a prescription or instruction set, it is simply what has worked for me.

1. Disable all notifications on your phone and laptop- sounds, pop-ups, banners etc.

All of them. The only exception for me is Google Calendar alerts for upcoming appointments or phone calls from people in my contact list. This includes disabling home screen notifications so if I check the time or something on my phone, I am not immediately shown a bunch of popups.

2. Set your phone on a Do Not Disturb schedule which ensures it is always on silent mode when there isn’t a specific reason for it to be making noise.

Sure, I could manually set it to silent but having an automatic schedule ensures I don't forget. I am difficult to contact and I like it that way.

Facebook and Tumblr used to be my biggest time sucks. I think my Tumblr had something like 12,000 posts when I deleted it. Instagram and Twitter do remain although I barely use them. I haven't logged into the latter for over a year (I occasionally schedule posts using Buffer.) Every couple of weeks, I download Instagram to post something, then delete the app straight away.

4. Delete as many apps as possible.

There is nothing on my phone which could be used to waste time or procrastinate. The apps I do have all serve a genuine purpose: Google Docs & Sheets (for work notes on the go), Toggl (for time tracking), podcasts, Moneybox (for managing investments), Uber (which I've only used a couple of times in emergencies as I can't drive), Whatsapp, Evernote (for the scanning function), Spendee (for budgeting), Google Calendar (for scheduling), online banking, Calm (for meditation) and a cat games app (for occupying Patti when I'm on a call or something.) Every week or so, I go through and cull anything I haven’t used over the last 7 days.

5. Reorganize your home screen.

This is what mine looks like: