Regain Focus in the Age of Internet

Did you ever felt having trouble focusing? Being difficult to force yourself to do the work, which requires your real attention? In the age of the internet and constant smartphone checking, even the most ordinary actions might seems to require some perseverance. Let’s dive deep into what’s going on! If we want to improve anything, we should first understand it!

First of all, let’s discuss what’s focus. Based on Merriam-Webster It’s

A center of activity, attraction, or attention

or

A point of concentration

Based on this definition when we can not progress with our boring work, instead we binge-watch youtube videos or scroll social media, it’s not a problem with our focus. I argue It’s perfectly fine and our attention is crystal clear on other things, but the work. I think mostly two things can go wrong when we deal with focus.

• Our mind wanders easily to other topics - It’s quite obvious. When we finally started to do the work we all know we should start deeply in our hearts, but somehow by some magic, the smartphone just manifests in our hands and boom, we are distracted.
• We can not switch context - This case has some interconnection with the first one, but I would like to distinguish it since it’s a valid case when we want to mindfully change our attention, either back to something, or we need a sudden contact switch.

Before we go further with the analysis and solution search, let me introduce my favorite analogy, the way I like to imagine what’s focus is and how it’s working.

Focus is Like Watching Through Binoculars

Focus is like watching with binoculars. Imagine when doing focused work, you are watching into a pair of binoculars and inspecting something really far away. You are in a forest and watching a squirrel. Your hand is a bit shakey, so You eventually lose sight of the squirrel. How would you find it again? You probably put down the binoculars for a second try, to loosen up the “zoom” so you can inspect great areas, and as you find the squirrel again, only then You put on the binoculars back to your eyes. This situation is quite analog in my opinion to our daily struggle with focus. The difference is, We are not letting the binoculars down ever. From the time we wake up, our whole surrounding is highly optimized to grab our attention and our focus until the very moment we fall asleep (We might even have the phone by us in the bad). Just imagine you try to find something in the forest without ever putting down the binoculars. It’s way harder. So there are two things we can improve to see the squirrel in the forest (therefore having better focus on one thing).

• One is to have steady(er) hands - We can just force ourselves to do something. I think this is the most widely used approach, but probably the least effective. Although I believe this can be improved (I’ll tell a few ways later)
• Have better ways to find it - Practice loosening the focus and picking it up. This can give tremendous help in many situations. When we are fixated, we can realize it and it’s almost always better to just take a step back, and have a break and when we go back it will be easier to focus.

How to Improve Effective Focus

As I mentioned I think effective focusing is just part of the whole story. However, there are numerous ways we can improve our ability to keep our attention on one thing by pure willpower. Do you know about the “Ego depletion” experiment? It was done by Roy Baumeister in 1998. The expirement showed that people who just resisted the temptation of chocolates were less able to solve a difficult puzzle task. It theorizes that willpower is just like a muscle, you can build it up by working with it. This means, if we challenge our willpower regularly it can be better. Well… this does not sound fun at all. Luckily there are a few ways we can sneak a few willpower-inducing activities into our lives.

• Cold shower - As the name suggests it’s “just” using an ice-cold shower instead of the comforting warm one we are all used to. This has multiple health benefits. It increases endorphins and helps depression, Improves circulation, helps fight off common illnesses (even cancer) and greatly enhances our generic willpower! After you step out from a sub 10°C or 50°F shower it feels like other, worldly problems become trivial and nothing is impossible. The best thing is since we already shower, it’s just a matter of one small decision. No travel and time investment needed!
• Workout - It’s quite cliché and very well known. All kinds of workouts greatly help overall health and help fight depression. It needs greater effort investment than a cold shower and can even lead to burnout, but luckily a daily 10 minutes session works as well! Especially if you have no previous workout experience. I always recommend prioritizing home workouts instead of going to the gym. It’s cheaper requires less time and equipment and has a generally lower entry point. Pushups and squats are always accessible!
• Reading - Reading books require concentration and focus. Since it needs more brainpower than watching social media and is also less shiny and attention-grabbing, it helps build up focus.
• Pick a hobby that needs heavy focus - There are plenty of hobbies that require stretching your focus a little bit. Pursuing them may give you some tiredness in a good way. That’s a sign of progression. Let me recommend programming, painting or any other detailed work like sewing.
• Learn a foreign language - Learning another language is such a learning heavy process, it will heavily help your focus developing process. I recommend having no expectations towards the new language at all. This way you will minimize the possibility of burnout. Remember, have fun!

How to Move Your Focus Quicker

As we discussed, keeping up focus by pure willpower is probably not the most efficient way overall and definitely not sufficient in the long run. We have to learn to reset our focus at will when it wanders or when encounter content switches. There are a couple of practices for developing focus displacement and many of them stem from Stoic and Buddhist philosophies.

• Mindfulness meditation - Start your day with a 5-10-15 minutes meditation session. During that just observe. Do force yourself of thinking nothing, rather try to move your awareness to your breathing. If a thought is sneaking in, and you start daydreaming. Just let it go and always observe.
• Inspect the big picture - Move to a quiet place, and try to consciously “zoom-out” of your life. Think of yourself as an average Joe Doe. You do your daily struggle the same as your neighbors. Watch the cars going by and think about all the drivers who have their own problems. Think about how the world works. The big picture. “Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.” (Miyamoto Musashi)
• Go for a walk - Start your day with a circle around the house or the block. Never bring a phone with you, just be present at the moment. While you are there try to just observe. Eventually, you will pick up the details around you.
• Have a tea - How many times do we feel that we haven’t got 10 minutes for a tea break? If we feel so, that’s a sign. that is the exact time we must have a break! When having our tea, make it a little bit ritualistic. just try to inspect the smell, aroma and taste.

Final Thoughts

All of the things above will shake you up wonderfully from your fixations. Helps to “take off the binoculars” and rearrange your focus. I know sometimes it’s hard to start any of these activities, but in the end, you will regret non of them. You will feel that you are more, not less.