Illustration by Olivier Bonhomme.
What if you don’t have as much control over your attention as you think?
In this mini-episode, I explain how understanding what your brain is doing on “auto-pilot” is the key to unlocking your focus. And breaking your smartphone addiction.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- A nuanced understanding of the two different types of attention you deploy on a daily basis
- How your smartphone is optimized for “brain drain” and why that compromises your creativity and other cognitive functions
- Why your attention will be enhanced if you begin to decouple certain activities from your smartphone
Go Deeper
RESET, a cosmic tune-up for your workday. RESET is a new course from Hurry Slowly host Jocelyn K. Glei that shows you how to take a “heart-centered” approach to productivity that’s intentional, energizing, and inspiring. Watch the 30-second trailer at reset-course.com.
Get Jocelyn’s brainwaves in your inbox. If you like Hurry Slowly, you’ll love this twice-monthly email highlighting new ideas about how to be more creative, productive, and resilient. Sign up at hurryslowly.co/newsletter.
Favorite Quotes
“Hundreds of daily activities that used to be performed in separate locations, with different gestures, and through a range of intra-personal interactions have now all been collapsed into the smartphone. There has literally never been a device that is so relevant to executing our goals so much of the time. And because of this, our brains have been trained to allot a substantive portion of our ‘automatic attention’ to our smartphones.”
Sponsor
Hover has a domain name for whatever you’re passionate about. Get 10% off your first domain name, and start laying the groundwork for your next big idea, by visiting hover.com/hurryslowly.
Resources
A quick list of the ideas, episodes, and studies mentioned:
- The study on smartphones and “brain drain”
- Craig Mod epi, where we talk about smartphones as time machines
- Tyler Cowen epi, in which we discuss smartphones as anti-risk-taking devices
- Ann Friedman epi, where we chat about the anxiety of the infinite news scroll
Call to Action
If this episode changed the way you think, I would love your support. Subscribe in iTunes and write us a review.
Every rating helps us attract new listeners, which allows us to keep making the show! : )
You can write a review on your phone here: hurryslowly.co/mobilereview
