We live in an age of distraction. And there’s one particularly dangerous culprit: our mobile phones.
In 2014, the number of phones officially passed the number of people in the world. Since then, the gap has only widened, with 8.59 billion phone contracts overshadowing the 7.95 billion people in the world in 2022, and that number is forecast to keep growing.
The ability to concentrate on a task is central to learning (as Daniel Willingham says, ‘Memory is the residue of thought’); but how can we focus when we all have a distracting device in our pocket?
Research suggests that we check our phones, on average, 85 times a day. Even if you think you don’t use your phone that much, research suggests you use your phone twice as much as you think you do. Excessive use of mobile phones has been associated with a range of negative consequences, such as poorer concentration, an increase in stress, and disrupted sleep.
These consequences are bad at the best of times, but during revision time they can be disastrous. Of course, mobile phones can be used as a revision tool, as they offer access to Google, AI chatbots, and a plethora of revision sites and revision apps. But they can also be a source of procrastination, anxiety and FOMO (fear of missing out). So, what can we do to better manage mobile phone usage?
Read on to find out our top tips for managing your mobile phone use:
Set yourself a time limit
Setting yourself a time limit is a great way to introduce self-regulation – managing your thoughts and actions to achieve a goal – into your life. With phones and other digital devices, this is easier to do than ever. Many have built-in app usage trackers, such as Apple’s Screen Time or Android’s Digital Wellbeing, whilst hardware blockers like Brick and Bloom can be used to place a physical block on usage.
Limit the notifications you receive
In one study, researchers found that if we receive lots of notifications on our phone, we can become restless and have trouble focusing; this can then lead to lower productivity and poor psychological well-being. Try silencing your mobile phone, or if you’re worried about missing something important, at least try limiting your push notifications by going to your notification centre in your settings.
Put your phone away whilst revising
It’s not just receiving notifications that can end up reducing your productivity, but even the mere sight of your phone. In a study run by Harvard, researchers found that having a smartphone out on your desk can significantly impact your cognitive capacity. The effect can be the equivalent to trying to complete a task when you’re lacking sleep. So, while you’re trying to revise, it may be best to put your mobile phone out of sight, in your bag or in the other room.
Give your phone to someone you trust to look after it while you study
If you struggle with self-control, there’s no shame in asking for help. Even if you tell yourself not to touch your phone, you might still be tempted to pick it up because you put the rule in place. However, if you give it to a friend or family member to look after this will no longer be an option. Because there is now a barrier to accessing your phone, your fixation on digital devices may lessen whilst you work, allowing you to remain focused on the task at hand.
Turn your phone off
Instead of putting your mobile phone far away, limiting the number of notifications you receive, or giving it to someone else, you can simply turn your phone off, which adds another barrier between you and the infinite scroll. By doing so, you can remove the ‘trigger’ of your bad phone habits, and you may just have a chance of breaking the cycle.
Let your friends know when you will be back online
If you can’t turn your phone off, setting social boundaries can be another way to help you remain focused and determined. If you know your friends aren’t going to contact you, you don’t need to worry about missing anything important whilst you work. Before you start a study session, it may be handy to send your friends a message about when you’ll next be available to chat.
Use going on your phone as a reward for a certain amount of work
Instead of continuously using our phones, sending endless signals to the pleasure centres of our brains, we may actually be able to use them to hack our brains into doing more work. In behavioural science, researchers have found that they can teach individuals to act a certain way by either reinforcing behaviour with rewards or discouraging it with punishments; this is called Operant Conditioning. By setting a study goal, and only using your phone once you’ve achieved it, you can link the pleasurable feeling of rewards to your desired behaviour goals. In the long term, this can give studying an enjoyable feeling and curb excessive phone usage.
Turn down your phone’s backlight near bedtime
Your phone isn’t just keeping you up because it’s entertaining; looking at your devices can actually affect how your brain regulates itself. The blue light that is emitted from digital screens has been found to suppress melatonin production, the hormone that regulates sleep. Try putting your phone away at least an hour before bed and winding down with a book, or at the very least, turn on your phone’s ‘Night Shift’ mode to reduce the amount of blue light your eyes are exposed to.
Final thoughts
Managing mobile phones doesn’t need to be about cutting off cold turkey. Instead, students should try to develop healthy habits to circumvent the addictive nature of the digital age. Just small changes, such as reducing the amount of notifications you receive, changing your screen to greyscale, or turning on night mode, can have a big impact on focus, well-being and academic success.
Need more hints and tips? Worried about how much you use your phone? Take a look at our guide to mobile phone management.
