I stare at a wall for 10 minutes, I feel relaxed. I let my thoughts emerge and pass by unannounced without needing a reason to stay. I initially thought staring at a wall would be excruciatingly dull for my eyes. I thought when my phone’s timer went off I would gladly want to do anything else. However, my eyes reluctantly peeled from the grainy grey wall–which at first looked white and plain–lingering for the calm that it brought me.
Compared to staring at my phone for 10 minutes, the wall is a much tranquil experience; like a long exhale finally unleashed after a deep breath. Despite both being a 10 minute “waste” of time, one leaves the mind scattered, the other settled. In a world where everything is stealing our attention, focus is everything.
What happened?
Focus is not an innate ability; it’s a practiced skill
In the early 20th century, humans were introduced to a new medium for entertainment. It had simple instructions: sit and watch. The two step process was a magical escape for those coming back home after a long day and wanting to do nothing but ease their mind.
The shift from a typographic mind to a screen-dominated one started when televisions started popping up in more houses. Near the end of the 20th century, a new technology arose, one that would be a blessing for screen-stimulated minds: the Internet.
With the Internet came a plethora of other gadgets like smartphones. With their 24/7 flow of information and their alluring pictures, everything is tailored perfectly for the individual to enjoy their stay on the page. Sounds quite nice actually.
But there’s a catch. By bringing us constant noise on a silver platter, our focus quietly ebbs away and our attention spans are shortened.
The mere suggestion of staring at a blank wall for 10 minutes would cause a cascade of groans. But people seem rather happy to stare at a screen for hours on end. The only difference with the former is that you need to give it attention, while the latter steals it.
The average American spends seven hours on their phone. When I feel like sitting on my comfy couch and staring at the addictive dopamine hits of social media, I visualize all the months in my life that I have spent using my phone. In all the time I spent on my phone, I could’ve read, learned to play the guitar, learned new recipes, been with my family or simply walked.
What happened to us that we would rather spend time in a rigid room with a screen, rather than outside with the lush trees and daisies?
In Jared Henderson’s “Why we can’t focus” or better named “Amusing ourselves to death” video, he delves into the details of why our current generation needs to wake up and snap out of the loop of instant gratification.
Marshall Mcluhan, Canadian philosopher and media theorist, said “the medium is the message.” By this he meant how we deliver our messages reveals a lot about ourselves. In the early world this was with letters, books and papers. With our current generation it is through the Internet.
This new medium has power over how we think. Henderson argues that the media is changing the way we interact with the world. From how people engage in politics, to the spike in more short-form media, to more emphasis on appearances.
“This medium [the Internet] teaches you that information is easy and disposable,” Henderson said. “If you’re even a little bit bored you can move on and in fact you should move on. That’s implicitly what these platforms are telling you.”
Henderson coins the saying that the Internet is a hostile design environment. The Internet is not a fair trade. One side gets money for how long you stay on their page, regardless of the quality of information, while you get shortchanged with probably unreliable, false and inutile information.
To try to “cleanse” yourself from social media is not a fair fight. These companies, who pay big bucks for the best psychologists and design engineers, will not let you walk away from them. This isn’t hard to imagine. Just open Instagram and you’re instantly bombarded with 32 posts, each one declaring that it knows the new best thing.
The Internet is a battleground of chaos, and it is exactly this point that gives it the upper hand.
The first president of Facebook, Shawn Parker said on stage to Mike Allen from Axios, “The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible? …
That means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.”
Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t let his kids use any social media. The founders of tech businesses who understand the effects of technology–who helped design, build and popularize their business–are protecting their own kids from it.
If people are unable to focus on a thought for longer than eight seconds, can you imagine how our brains are being shaped? Well, there’s some bad news and good news.
“The bad news is that your brain is plastic,” Henderson said. “So the fact that you use your phone all the time or that you watch too many Youtube videos means you are slowly ruining your ability to focus. The good news though is that your brain is plastic so you can fix this.”
Surrounded by phones, smartwatches, and earbuds, we’re constantly plugged in—tools meant to enhance our lives often end up distracting us from them. These devices make it easy to retreat into our own digital bubbles, pulling us away from the present moment.
Real focus requires intention. Try not checking your phone while waiting in line. Play music in the car because it brings you joy, not just out of habit. Learn to appreciate the quiet of your own thoughts.
I urge you to stare at a wall for 10 minutes. I’m not promising everlasting clarity, but I do assure you you’ll give yourself some necessary reflection. And at the end of the day, it’s not about how much time we have, it’s how we use it.
How to do better
The blue light emitted from our phone disrupts our circadian rhythm, ruining our quality of sleep. Without quality sleep, everything else falls like a landslide. Our energy throughout the day, motivation, creativity, sociability, productivity, health–everything is depleted. You can stop the blue light by going to settings and setting a time in the day to switch on a red light so you go to bed without the incessant blue light nagging you every time you get a notification.
If you’re not interested in the previous methods, try this one out instead. Write out your values, everything you are grateful for and deeply value in your life, for at least five minutes.
Then check this list and notice if your phone is anywhere on that list. If it’s not, hopefully your dependency on it, or at least your perspective of its importance in your life will shift.
In summary:
- Decrease the color intensity on your phone or switch it to grayscale to reduce the stress your eyes endure.
- Turn on the red light when it’s night time to reduce your blue light intake.
- Download an app to minimize your screen time and use your phone more effectively.
