Reclaiming Focus in a Connected World

Five tips on resetting your relationship with your smartphone and devices

Editor Note: This week, our colleague Alex Torpey writes about simple tips for how to manage your screens. He writes: “These adjustments are small acts of rebellion against an attention economy that is intentionally designed to keep us perpetually engaged. While these changes won’t solve the deep structural issues of global tech dependence, they will help you be the conductor of your own attention span again. Perhaps that added attention, focus, and creativity will help us each to have more capacity to make our workplaces and communities and societies better.”

We would wholeheartedly agree, and believe that we all need that added attention, focus and creativity right now to channel outrage and connect across differences. Doug uses a flip phone to preserve his attention, and Beth works hard to control her phone habits, rather than the other way around.

While spending four-months driving across the country in 2021, Alex frequently disconnected from all devices and outside contact while exploring beautiful public lands. Pictured here: camping in the Dixie National Forest, Utah.

Alex writes:

To show Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor who secured the patent for the basic telephone back in 1876, a modern smartphone, his expression probably wouldn’t be one of awe, but of confusion, or perhaps even horror.

The device he envisioned was fundamentally different from the rectangle of glass and metal that nearly 4.5 billion people carry in their pockets today. Bell’s phone was a destination: you had to physically go somewhere to use it, pick up the handset, dial a number, have a conversation, and then hang up (with a nice clang) and walk away. It was an intentional act with very defined boundaries and an unprecedented, but narrow, purpose.

Today’s smartphone is less a communication tool and more a portal. A camera, a computer, an information repository, and so much more. And this device hasn’t just changed how we call people. Rather, it has fundamentally altered how we think, how we pay attention, and how we experience being present. It has changed, and is still changing, our brain chemistry.

The good news—We have more agency than we think.

The Architecture of Distraction

What are these devices really? The way they work today, they mimic a slot machine. And that wasn’t by accident, but rather, it was a deliberate design choice from very smart people who built the hardware and software to keep us engaged. Instead of requiring coins to pull a lever on chance, they provide intermittent, variable rewards. Dopamine hits disguised as likes, emails read, or breaking news alerts. Our attention has become the most valuable commodity in our economic and political system today, and virtually every piece of technology, from our smartphones to TVs, and even modern vehicle “infotainment” centers, are all built around maximizing the extraction of that single resource - our attention.

We have, without discussion or consent, traded deep focus for constant connectivity, sacrificing the quiet moments of boredom (which used to breed creativity) for an endless feed of curated stimulation. We have sacrificed depth for breadth. Quality for Quantity.

So, how do we reclaim some sovereignty? We cannot simply “un-invent” these systems. The economic scaffolding supporting them is too complex and deeply ingrained. Nor should we necessarily. These devices can offer a lot, if used more intentionally. The idea is to shift from being users who react to the technology, to architects who choose when and how to engage. Here are five easy ways to start building that boundary in your own life.

1. Introduce Intentional Friction

One of the most insidious features of modern tech is its low barrier to entry. Face ID, a simple glance, or an open-hand lift makes using the device effortless, and thus, nearly automatic.

The fix? Increase friction. Turn off Face ID. Set a longer PIN or password. If accessing the device requires three seconds of conscious effort (typing out six digits instead of simply looking at it), you create a tiny cognitive speed bump. That pause is often enough to let you ask yourself: Do I really need this right now? You’ll find more often than not, the answer is no.

2. Define Physical “Tech Zones”

We need to stop treating our phones as ambient accessories that follow us everywhere, the bathroom, the dinner table, into the bedroom. Our environment needs designated areas of digital quiet.

The practice here is rather simple: Treat your home like it had dial-up internet: certain zones should be technology-free by default. The dining table is for eating, and for human connection. Your bed should remain an analog sanctuary, reserved for sleep, not for scrolling. Creating these physical boundaries helps re-wire our brains to associate those spaces with focus rather than distraction.

I purchased a set of cordless phones that have bluetooth built in. When I enter my house, my personal smartphone connects to it. If I want to do something without my smartphone but want either the ability to make an emergency call or receive an important call, I take the cordless phone with me. This might be working on things outside, sleeping, or taking an outdoor sauna. The cordless phone acts basically as a headset - no texting, no alerts, simply able to receive or make a call.

3. Curate the Alerts, Don’t Let Them Curate You

The default notification settings are designed to scream for your attention regardless of whether it’s important, necessarily, or time-sensitive. This is because capturing our attention is a multi-billion dollar economy, and we’ve implicitly opted into that by carrying a little engagement portals in our pockets.

Audit each application on your device and ask: “If this app sends me a notification at 10 PM, is it an emergency that requires my immediate awareness?” If the answer is no, turn off the alert. Move non-essential apps off your home screen and into folders and away from being right in your face every time you open your phone.

Turn on “do not disturb.” Why? To avoid getting constantly bombarded with notifications. We can decide when to look at our device, instead of our device telling us when we should look at it. “Do not disturb” shifts the decision making back to us, rather than our devices.

4. Re-Embrace “Unproductive” Analog Time

There is modern compulsion to fill every second with “productivity.” Waiting in line? Scroll. Waiting for coffee? Check email. This is cognitively and emotionally exhausting. Our attention spans suffer because we don’t practice the art of *nothing* anymore.

We need to schedule periods of active boredom. When you are waiting, look at the architecture around you instead of the screen. If you’re walking, count the different shades of green on the trees rather than checking social feeds.

By intentionally redirecting your focus onto the immediate physical world, you retrain your brain to find richness in low-stimulation environments again and start to reset some of the dopamine pathways that have become linked to phone use.

As a teacher of Master of Public Administration, I started each semester with one class on attention/distraction to set up everything for the semester. I encouraged them to try doing some of the coursework without a device interrupting them. Students exclaimed that they had never parted with their phone for even two hours, and found it freeing and supportive of their engaging in more focused and creative schoolwork.

5. Compartmentalize Technology’s Function

When you need a timer, use the dedicated clock app and put your phone across the room. Or use a watch or kitchen timer! When you write an email, use a laptop in a designated work location.

By segmenting which tool performs which job, we prevent the constant background hum of digital readiness that drains our mental battery simply because everything is *always* accessible.

I use an analog bevel timer on a watch for cooking and other similar tasks. I know that if I use my phone for that, once I see it, or open the screen, the odds are that I’ll get distracted and pulled into using the phone. Even if your phone is in your pocket, your brain will start entering FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) mode, and will be distracted, whether you are aware of that or not.

By being intentional about how we use our devices, instead of letting them decide how to use us, we can reclaim agency in a world where that is becoming the most precious of skills.