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We only have a limited amount of time in this world, so it’s important to live it to the fullest by using our time wisely. Unfortunately, there are always obstacles that stop us from getting the most out of our lives. A lot of those obstacles are, in actuality, welcome distractions, but no matter how welcome they are, it’s important to recognize them and limit how much we allow ourselves to be distracted on a daily basis. It’s one thing to take an hour-long Facebook break from studying. It’s a whole other thing to be on Facebook all day instead of studying.
The most common brainpower sucker is being on the phone. Back in the day, this used to mean solely talking. Now it can mean anything from having a phone conversation with your mom to scrolling through Twitter. Since phones are now designed to be mini-computers, it’s really easy to get into the habit of using them for virtually everything. What initially could have been an innocent Google search can very quickly turn into a Netflix movie marathon.
Also, unlike other distractions that more or less leave you alone, your phone makes noise, constantly capturing your attention. According to TIME, Bill Thornton, a researcher who studied the harmful effects of phones, says, “With the presence of the phone, you’re wondering what [other] people are doing. Even if it’s just mental, your focus is not on the task at hand…your mind is elsewhere.” Once you allow this to happen, you don’t have much mental energy left for anything else.
Constantly checking your social media and any other form of communication like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr or Snapchat is a serious brainpower sucker. Social media can be really fun. Everybody knows that. You can get nosy waiting for your friends’ status updates, you can learn how to DIY a T-shirt, laugh at some funny pics or share some of your own. The possibilities of entertainment content are limitless. What could possibly be bad about that?
Well, nothing, unless that’s all you spend your time doing; then it becomes a problem. The time and concentration required to look up and at so much content in a day are immense. You may not feel it, but your body is slowly losing energy with every new status you read and every new thing you post.
Watching TV or movies are huge brainpower thieves. TV is one of the best things ever invented; it’s a great an accessible form of entertainment. Unlike the other forms of distraction, all you really need to do is turn the TV on and sit down. The sedentary and comatose state we slip into makes us lethargic, and after a while, we’re not only sleepy but the whole day has gone by.
TV can be a great way to stop thinking if you feel your brain is overheating, but it is also an awful distraction and can interfere with creative thinking. According to National Public Radio (NPR), researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that watching too much TV can lead to “more cognitive decline over time.” It’s very easy to get lost in the enchantment of television since each show is normally within 30-minute intervals. If you watch 4 shows, you’ve already lost two hours of productivity. The sun has made its way up into the sky and you did nothing. What time will you have left? As NPR writes, “People with low cognitive function perhaps are less likely to engage in physical activity, and maybe are likely to engage in sedentary behaviors.”
Despite all of these negative aspects, distractions can be good for you. They can let you put some problems or ideas you have on the back burner until you’re ready to address them. They can inspire you and they can take you out of your day and present you with something better in the moment. The key, however, is to use distractions wisely. If you know how to manage your time, then you can actually use distractions as a way to conserve your brainpower rather than having it snatched away when you least expect it. However, it’s important to understand if you’re using these distractions as a way to conserve brainpower or a way to avoid responsibilities. Overall, it’s important to limit how much time is given over to distractions in order to help boost productivity and creativity, and find more time to enjoy life as a whole.
