3 Ways Your Phone Hinders You Freshman Year
Ding! Your phone light catches your eye. A quick look at a text turns into a 15-minute scroll through Instagram or TikTok. You know you look at your phone probably more than you should, but is it really that bad?
Before you begin a giant eye-roll, here me out. I struggle with being on my phone too much. Yes, even as a teacher, I know that I spend entirely too much time on my phone. I watch far too many Youtube videos, spend way too long scrolling through Instagram, and generally feel way too attached to my phone.
On the other hand, I know that phones are a necessary part of life today. If you are not accessible by text or social media, you limit your ability to build relationships and accomplish tasks. I’m not anti-phone.
However, being on a phone does provide some very serious obstacles that hinder you. Below are three significant ways in which your phone is holding you back.
Way #1: Your phone breaks your concentration.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Gloria Mark discussed that it takes an office worker approximately 25 minutes to regain focus on a task after an interruption.
In a Stanford study, Clifford Nass found that not only are we drawn to interruptions (and sometimes addicted as well), like a text message, we actually decrease in mental capability to accomplish other tasks as a result.
The reality is that you cannot focus on more than one task at a time, whatever your experiences or your senses tell you. Instead, your brain is switching back and forth between tasks. You are spending more time collectively than you would if you focused on one task.
Your attention is always split, and that 25 minutes it takes to get focused again comes into play. You are spending more time switching trying to regain focus than you are on your actual tasks, which leads to poorer quality of work.
If you’re serious about concentrating, then you need to get serious about removing one of your biggest distractions—your phone. To be transparent, I struggle with this. When doing an unpleasant task, like grading, I know that unlocking my phone will not help me complete the task.
When I’ve experienced success with concentrating, I almost always can point to one key choice—removing the distraction of my phone. Putting my phone on airplane mode or silent mode has made the biggest difference. Give it a try!
Way #2: Your phone encourages multitasking.
Multitasking is a myth. A more accurate description of this process is task-switching, because your brain focuses on one task and not two or more tasks at the same time.
In my post “How Does Multitasking Affect Your College Education?” I share the following:
In a study by the University of Connecticut, researchers discovered that “[college] students who multitasked while doing homework had to study longer, and those who frequently multitasked in class had lower grades on average than their peers who multitasked less often.”
You may be thinking that this idea only applies to college students who do poorer in their college classes regardless, but this is not the case. An article titled “The Need to Minimize Distractions” published by the University of Michigan states, “research into how we learn increasingly shows lower academic performance among students who task-switch during class and study, regardless of the students’ general academic ability.”
According to the above articles, multitasking has a direct relationship with earning lower grades. Don’t let your phone be the source of distraction that holds you back from earning the grades you’re capable of earning!
Way #3: Your phone hinders your ability to focus.
In the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, researchers found that the presence of your phone actually reduces your mental capacity. In other words, your phone takes up brain power just by being there.
This research especially rings true while you’re in class. As a communication professor, I typically try to approach the topic of phone-use in class with a question something like “what does having your phone out on your desk or on a table communicate to those around you?”
Whether you’re eating a meal with a friend or sitting in class, merely having your phone out communicates something: “I am only partially accessible” or “you don’t fully have my attention.” Most of the time, you have no intention of communicating this, but this is what having your phone out communicates to a professor or a friend. That person doesn’t have your full attention.
If you’re struggling to stay focused in class, your phone may be part of the problem. If you’re struggling to stay focused on your homework, your phone may be part of the problem.
Remove this simple distraction by putting it out of sight and on silent. Set a timer for yourself. Determine not to look at your phone for 20 minutes or until you finish reading a chapter.
You may find you’re more attached to your phone than you thought. You may find your grades see some slight improvement after only a few weeks of putting your phone on silent. You may find you’re able to connect better with friends or roommates by putting your phone out of sight. Free yourself from your phone, so you can be the best you that you can be!
