How to stop digital gangsters stealing your time

Our modern brains seem to struggle to focus on just one task, constantly jumping from one activity to the next.

We seem to be facing a distraction crisis, but is there a 'cure' for not paying attention? And who is robbing us of our focus?

Social media, targeted advertising, YouTube, apps: big tech companies have learned how to monetise procrastination and are stealing our attention systematically and on an industrialised scale.

"There is an entire industry dedicated to stealing our attention, and most of us don't even realise it's happening," says Belinda Parmar, a former tech evangelist who's now so concerned about the effects of tech on our mental health she has become a tech-addiction campaigner.

"The tech industry keeps promising to bring the world closer, but really their prime target is to take time away from us," she says.

So, is there a way to stop our minds from wandering off ?

Nir Eyal, a best-selling author who studies habit formation and an expert on consumer behaviour, knows all the tricks tech companies use to capture our attention. He used to teach them how to do it.

He says you can get back your time and concentration with a certain amount of personal effort. And he says it’s up to individuals, because “our government is not going to save us, and neither are the tech companies".

He has a four-step plan to stop getting dis- tracted by technology.

Step 1 – Manage your internal triggers: When we're distracted, we're normally looking to escape from something uncomfortable. Try to work out what it is and manage it.

Step 2 – Make time for distraction: Set aside time to be distracted – that way it won't feel like your time is being invaded. Give yourself a set hour that's ‘social media time’.

Step 3 – Remove the external triggers: Turn off your notifications and the rings, pings and dings that tell you what to do.

Step 4 – Get a technology app that tries to limit the amount of time you spend on your phone. The key factor is self-awareness: once you realise you're being distracted by your phone or tablet, you start putting it down.

(Courtesy BBC)