Rarely has some app or program made a difference to my ability to think or focus. But there are a few that have risen above and beyond my cynical, high expectations.
We’ll also explore some strategies to wrangle back the control over your automatic responses and habits.
But first, what are we solving for?
The Problem
We all know that social media is a productivity blackhole. It bio-hacks our brains into staying on-platform for as long as possible.
Doom scrolling.
Rabbit hole.
Time-suck.
We automatically reach for the phone, open the app. Look up and it’s 45 minutes later.
It’s not just productivity we should be worrying about. It’s also the change in our brains’ ability to focus, to think deeply and clearly.
The Wrath of Short-form Content
YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Facebook, Twitter, blah blah blah, all contribute to the problem of attention resetting. You batch-watch these snack-sized videos or content and they’re all random, they’re all surface-level concepts (at best, assuming they’re “educational” content).
Instead of devoting time to go deep on something, short-form interrupts that focus and trains the brain to stop before it really goes anywhere.
My take is that short-form is ok in very small doses—but that means we’ll need some strategies to help us fight back against the forces of the platform, which were intentionally designed to grab hold of you and not let go.
Strategies
Minimalism
Technological minimalism is highly effective if your goal is to maintain the most autonomy. This strategy is a theory that you actively avoid downloading apps and signing up for tools/subscriptions.
What is the least amount of apps and programs and platforms that I can survive with?
The downside is that it’s pretty tough to stick to. I’m also aware that I am a weirdo in the population as I try to leave my phone out of my life as much as possible.
That’s where a more measured strategy comes in if minimalism just won’t work for you:
Complete focus on intention.
Over-Intend
Instead of worrying about how many apps you have, this strategy is about you owning your choice to engage with whatever apps you are using.
If you feel the phone in your hand, that’s a trigger for you to tell yourself either:
I am going to look at Facebook (even better, insert a specific purpose here) I could look at Facebook, but I don’t really want to get trapped right now. Making a large, deliberate, articulated choice to use an app that is normally problematic with your goals can build a habit that will give you back some control.
One more step to make this even more effective is to turn off all push notifications and remove as many in-app notifications as well. Get rid of those red dots on your app icons so you go there when you choose, not when you can’t stand how many notifications have piled up.
Yes, Facebook with its algorithms and psychological bio-hacking will always win. But maybe it will dominate less with time. Maybe you’ll get to the point where you can dip into Facebook and come out in just a few minutes rather than hours.
The downside of this strategy is the tendency to shame yourself and give up. Avoid both of those!
It also helps to redirect that action with another—replace the doom scroll with writing a note. Cold turkey rarely works for anything.
Incremental improvements is the name of the game and setbacks are an important part of the process, because they can fuel motivation if you use the setbacks that way.
Apps for Clarity
Now that we have some ideas for controlling our tendencies just a little bit more, let’s take a look at the apps even this minimalist has gotten behind. (None of these are sponsored links/apps)
Obsidian
Obsidian. Is. The. Best. Thing.
I cannot believe how valuable this unassuming, free app has been to me.
On its surface, it’s a note-taking app. But the value in it is how it helps with your thinking.
If you think of your mind as a giant network of connections (which it is), Obsidian mirrors that system by helping you make connections between your notes and it can even map that out for you.
Here’s a screenshot of my Obsidian vault right now:
Visualization of all the notes and connections in my Obsidian vault. There’s a lot more to say about Obsidian (stay tuned!) but the big idea here is that it acts as a digital garden for your brain. Dump your thoughts, your notes, your inspiration into this virtual garden box and irrigate it by creating connections between these notes.
It’s surprising and inspiring to see what a handful of initially disparate notes can teach you about what you already know and what more you can discover / learn.
Obsidian is my digital secret to clarity of thought.
Endel
The past year has been exceptionally difficult for me to stay motivated, focused, and calm at work. There was a “leader” at my company that made everything worse for my whole team. It was a constant struggle and I didn’t know how to turn my focus from threat-mode to task-mode.
At wit’s end, I bought a subscription to Endel, hearing the promise that it was developed based on psychological research and AI in order to help you focus, calm down, or even fall asleep, depending on the mode you choose.
Honestly, I didn’t think it would last the free trial period, but I noticed I was able to start work when I wanted to start. I was able to tune out the threats and the irritation from this “leader.” I was able to get things done again—a lot of things.
It’s just background noise. Just some beat patterns and non-melodic tones on top. But it really works for me.
The Cyborg
Digital tech is imposed on us more and more, and it’s just not a solution to ignore that fact nor to pretend you have control over your on-platform habits.
The cyborg wields this tech and maintains as much humanity as possible. Sometimes we give more to these platforms than we wanted. Sometimes we resist the pull.
Despite my own tendency to discount apps, there absolutely are some great ones out there.
It’s all about balance and intention.
Extra Resources
Is short-form content bad for you?
Perceived Stress and Short-Form Video Application Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Model