How to Make Your Phone Less Distracting While Working From Home
Working from home can increase productivity by cutting commute time and providing a quieter work environment. Despite phones being useful for making urgent calls and responding to work emails, they can quickly become a major distraction.
This article will cover different ways to make your phone less of a distraction while getting work done. By restricting your phone usage, you’ll improve your focus and save time, allowing you to fully engage with the task at hand. Here’s how it’s possible to limit your phone usage at work and get more done.
1. Sign Out of Social Media
Social media is one of the biggest distractions that can prevent you from getting work done. If you check social media frequently, you won’t be able to fully engage in the task at hand, which can stop you fromgetting deep work done. Checking social media often can also lead tosocial media addiction.
To help keep this distraction at bay and get more work done, you may sign out of social media apps when you’ve finished using them. This forces you to sign back in whenever you want to view content or check for updates.
It may feel like a stretch, but this pays off in the long run—just ask anyone who was around at the dawn of the internet how long it took to access the web. To make this habit of signing in easier to achieve, consider looking at thislist of the best password managers for your device.
2. Put Your Phone Into Focus Mode
If you need your phone for work calls but want to limit other distractions, you can put your device into Focus Mode. This allows you to set up profiles and set schedules of when to block apps and restrict notifications coming through.
For Android devices, Focus Mode can be found by navigating to theDigital wellbeing and parental controlssection in the device settings. You can set up multiple profiles, such asWorkandRelax, and define a time period to activate the profile. You can also select which apps you’d like to receive notifications from.
If you’re an iPhone user, it’s possible to alsoset up Apple’s Focus Modeson iOS 15 and later models that offer a similar method to aid your productivity.
3. Use the Web Version of the Apps
Another trick to avoid getting distracted by mobile notifications is by using web alternatives to apps. Many apps, largely social media and communication apps, offer a web version that syncs with your account data, so you can check updates from your PC instead of your mobile.
If your app doesn’t have a web version, Microsoft Edge offers a method toinstall any website as an app. Hit the three dots in the upper-right corner of the browser, hover over Apps, and selectInstall this site as an app. This way, you may use apps without getting sidetracked by common distractions in your browser.
4. Unsubscribe From Junk Email
There’s one thing that can cut your focus at work that has no purpose whatsoever—junk email. No matter how manyUnsubscribebuttons you click, it appears there’s always some irrelevant junk pestering you while working from home.
Clean Email is a surprisingly simple method to eliminate all junk mail on your phone. The app offers cleaning suggestions that recognize patterns in your unwanted emails. For a superfast method to eliminate junk, you’re able to also unsubscribe from mailing lists instantly in theUnsubscribertab.
For messages you receive at work that are important, but you wish to read later, Clean Email also offers aRead Laterfeature that acts as a separate folder to your primary inbox.
5. Manage Mobile Notifications From Your PC
If using your phone is necessary while working from home, there is a way to manage mobile notifications from your PC. Pushbullet is a mobile app designed to transfer files and messages between your phone and PC.
TheMirroringtab allows you to send push notifications from your mobile to your PC. You can also sync SMS messages in the SMS tab. This allows you to be more efficient on one device andavoid multitasking.
For extra efficiency, Pushbullet lets you send files with the click of a button in thePushingtab. This way, you don’t have to rely on sending yourself dozens of emails to receive files on your PC.
Download:Pushbullet forAndroid(Free, subscription available)
6. Analyze Your Phone Usage
A great way to change your unproductive behavior at work is to understand where it comes from. SPACE is an app that lets you track your phone usage, set goals, and learn about the causes of phone addiction.
On theMy Profilepage, you can set a time allowance and an ‘unlock allowance’ to monitor the number of times you unlock your phone. TheProgresspage features detailed analytics about your phone usage.
To gain a wider perspective, you could compare your analytics with people of the same age and gender. For an extra boost of motivation, there are some inspiring quotes and facts about phone addiction on theTop Tipstab to help you stay off of your phone at work.
Download:SPACE forAndroid|iOS(Free, premium version available)
7. Delete Unused Apps
If you’re looking to inhabit a minimalist lifestyle, having a tidy phone is as important as keeping your work desk clean. Removing old apps from your phone helps to get rid of unnecessary and unwanted distractions. It also gives you faster access to locate important apps.
Samsung’s My Files app offers a great way todelete unused Android apps. From the app’s homepage, head to the bottom section and tapAnalyze Storage. You’ll then be given a breakdown of your phone’s internal storage. Scroll down toUnused Appsto delete apps that are no longer relevant.
8. Reward Yourself for Not Using Your Phone
Rewards are an important factor for building any habit in the long term. Many social media apps and games reward you for using their apps, so why not reward yourself for not using your phone instead? Hold is a mobile app that encourages you to limit the time spent on your device by earning points.
The app uses a timer to limit the time spent on your phone. The longer you resist checking your phone, the more points you gain. The good news is, points can be exchanged for rewards and coupons over in theRewardstab. You can also compete with others and join a weekly league to show off your productive habits.
Download:Hold forAndroid|iOS(Free)
Stay Focused at Home and Work Efficiently Using These Apps
Having your own quiet space away from office distractions may help you work more productively. Phones, however, offer just as many distractions.
While phones can be useful for quickly checking emails, they can soon become a great source of distraction if not treated carefully. Try these tips to be more focused while working from home and be more efficient.
If you want to quit social media but don’t know how, these tips will help you remove it from your life once and for all.
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