Digital distraction is the real thing, and fighting it can be as hard as any other addiction known to men. However, in the case of digital addictions, people often refuse to get any help or even recognize the problem. After all, it feels like the entire Earth population is sitting on some sort of app addiction, so why can’t you? However, getting too dependent on the online world can affect your real one.
For example, many students struggle with timing, productivity, and overall performance in school, all due to smartphone app destruction. It’s the global issue of the current young generation. So let’s see what the most distracting applications are and how you can stop the vicious cycle.
It genuinely feels like the popularity of Facebook is fading rapidly and irreversibly. Yet, for now, it is still a powerful platform that can take a lot of your free time. Interestingly enough, students often come to Facebook for a good reason. One may need to message friends about homework, open a classroom Facebook page to see some news, or check out university updates on their official Facebook page. Yet, we all know how it goes from there. One page follows the other, and here you are commenting under someone’s baby pictures again. It’s an old trope we fall into every time.
TikTok
Introduced yesterday, TikTok has immediately become the most downloaded and popular app among young people. It has calculated the needs and preferences of young people to perfection, knowing how to engage them for long hours. Thus, it’s also one of the most addictive applications to exist today. All its algorithms are built to keep users interested and active for as long as humanly possible. A student can open it for a minute. Perhaps, they just want to have a short break from all the hard work they are doing. Then, an hour later, they find themselves even more exhausted and lost, with no homework done, of course.
Reddit is like the bottomless pit of everything best and worst about the Internet in one place. Once getting there, one can get lost for hours. Though, the thing is, students often use Reddit for their studies or other important personal queries. It can be a place where people actually get their questions answered. Thus, students often use Reddit during their study time.
Unfortunately, though, they get lost in the process. It takes one sweep in the wrong direction, and you are sucked into the endless chats, discussions, and arguments (and cute pets videos!) for hours. So, whenever you feel like you need help with your homework or writing assignments, better use professional sites like Free Essays Online instead of social media applications.
YouTube
YouTube can be a great tool for studying and yet a powerful distraction at the same time. It all depends on how you want to use it and the level of one’s self-control. Also, YouTube will be exactly what you want it to be. Hence, if you come here to receive useful information for your studies, it will turn your feed into a college curriculum. However, if you use it to distract yourself from homework, you will be lost among all those bloggers, animal videos, and stuff you never knew you wanted to learn.
Spotify
Surprisingly, Spotify has the power to distract students no less than some social media apps. It’s all because many young people prefer studying with music, and Spotify is the common choice for listening to music. However, before it can be done, one must find the right music. And once you hear what you want, you want to learn more about it. And here you are learning about a new musician you have just discovered and none about the work you actually needed to complete.
Way to fight the distractions
So now that you have successfully identified your enemies, it is time to do something about them. Of course, changes won’t come easy. As we have already established, most of these apps purposefully make you addicted to them. That is why getting rid of such apps is so hard. However, there are some steps you can take if you are not willing to sacrifice your productivity anymore. Let’s see what those are.
Delete your accounts
Now, this step may look radical to you. However, it is also one of the most efficient. Also, there are different approaches you can try with it. For example, no one says that you have to delete all your accounts at once and never visit them again. Of course, such a choice may work wonders for your mental health, but it’s not for everyone, and we get that. Thus, for a start, you can simply delete all your accounts for the duration of exam sessions or other important study weeks. Maybe, eventually, you will find it much easier to stay offline for longer periods at a time.
Set time limits
Another way is to introduce self-inflicted time limits of a curfew for certain apps usages. Having a proper schedule will help you in achieving good results here. Thus, a student should have a specific time of the day when they only study, and nothing, even the online world, should cross their way here.
To make this method work, inform your close friends and family about your studying hours and off-the-phone policy, so there are fewer temptations for you to check messages and notifications. You’ll see how with time, your focus and productivity will skyrocket. It turns out, you can do twice as much work if you do not distract yourself with TikTok videos.
Install blocking apps
Sometimes turning off notifications doesn’t do the trick for you. Instead, one gets only more anxious about missing any messages and checks their smartphones more often. If you recognize yourself here, you need help. Quite literally. Install blocking apps online that limit your access to certain sites and applications for the duration you set. Most apps won’t let you enter an app or receive any notifications, even if you choose to cheat your way and delete the blocking app. Yep, they are the embodiment of the will we all wish to have.