Are Smartphones The New Cigarettes?

Can You Quit The Habit Of Constant Distraction?

Smartphones have become the adult comfort blanket of the 21st century. We clutch them, stroke them, panic when we misplace them. And yet, as Mark Manson, the best selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, points out in his insightful article, they might just be the modern-day equivalent of cigarettes - once seen as glamorous, now understood as a slow-burn problem.

Remember when smoking indoors was normal? When you’d sit in a restaurant, breathing in someone else’s Marlboro or Benson & Hedges habit while trying to enjoy your dinner? It’s hard to believe we put up with it for so long.

Image Credit: Business Insider

But now, we’re living through a different kind of passive pollution: attention pollution.

What Is Attention Pollution?

Attention pollution is what happens when one person’s distraction spills over into everyone else’s space. Think of the person who checks their phone mid-conversation, breaking the flow of human connection. Or the colleague who answers an email in a meeting, setting off a chain reaction of distraction. Or, worse still when you catch yourself reaching for your phone again, despite having just checked it 30 seconds ago.

It’s not just about individual focus. It’s about how our collective ability to pay attention is being eroded. Our brains are being rewired to expect interruptions, to skim instead of think deeply, to react instead of reflect. And it’s exhausting.

The Cost of Constant Distraction

We like to tell ourselves that we’re ‘multitasking.’ That checking WhatsApp, scrolling Instagram and half-listening to a Zoom call is just how things work now. But in reality, we’re not doing multiple things at once—we’re doing all of them badly.

Smartphone use has been linked to higher stress levels, decreased productivity, and shorter attention spans. The endless stream of notifications, messages, and dopamine hits keeps us in a state of low-level anxiety, always waiting for the next ‘ping.’

It’s not a coincidence that so many people feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.

How To Take Back Control

If we want to stop this slow erosion of our focus we have to be deliberate.

Here’s some suggestions:

• Create ‘No-Phone Zones’ – The dinner table, the bedroom, the first hour of the morning. Pick spaces and times where you actively choose to be present.

• Turn Off Notifications – Do you really need a ping every time someone likes your Linkedin post or tweet?

• Single-Tasking Over Multitasking – Commit to doing one thing at a time. Close the extra tabs. Put the phone in another room. Give your brain the gift of uninterrupted focus.

• Digital Detox Days – Take a day off from screens once in a while. Notice how weirdly uncomfortable it feels at first—and how much better your brain works afterwards.

Will We One Day Look Back In Horror?

The question is: in 20 years, will we look back at our smartphone obsession the way we now look back at the smoking era? Will we wonder why we spent so many years hijacking our own attention, giving up hours of our lives to doomscrolling and distraction?

Maybe. But unlike cigarettes, we don’t have to wait for a government health warning to make a change.

While smartphones have revolutionised the way we communicate and access information, it's imperative to remain vigilant about their impact on our attention and mental health.

By adopting mindful usage practices, we can reclaim our focus, enhance productivity, and foster more meaningful connections in both our personal and professional lives.

Get in touch if you’d like to know more about my courses and workshops.

💡Sharon

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