How productive can we really be with screens constantly in our face?

It’s a Saturday night and I’m lounging on my couch, draped in a silk robe, watching This Is Us (One Direction’s critically-acclaimed documentary film). The one goal of the day, to write an analytical essay of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, was quickly thwarted after discovering my slew of One Direction goodies in the depths of my closet at my parents’ house. I set aside business to indulge.

As I sit here watching these beautiful boys dart across the television screen in authentic documentary fashion, I am also looking at my computer screen on which I’m typing, and the screen of my phone — the one I keep close by my side at all time as if I’m expecting an important call from a casting director in New York City. There are three screens in front of me, each providing me with entertainment in some capacity, and ultimately dwindling my sense of concentration and productivity.

This is how we “work.” We type and work on one screen, half-concentrated while keeping up a conversation or checking Snapchat periodically on another. The uninterupted flow of work lasts for about 15 minutes before we reach for our devices to scroll aimlessly for a few minutes.

After reviewing my social media habits, or what I will more concisely call “phone habits” (what can I say, I love social media! The easily accessible tool to get there is the problem), I’ve learned a few things about the way I operate when I’m tied to my phone, which, as it turns out, is always. As an aspiring writer who will undoubtably have to work a little harder to find work and achieve financial stability, spending my free time scrolling through my phone comes at a huge cost, which is time. Creating something sustainable and worthwile takes time and effort. Phones are the bane of all creative endeavors because when the going gets tough, our personal mini-screens are right there to entertain us before we feel ready to continue work. But, in the process, we are wasting time and interrupting our work flow.

Christine Carter, a sociologist at UC Berkeley, describes the work flow as, “the mental state when our best work emerges without strain or anxiety. Instead of making our most powerful effort, we get to experience our own effortless power.”

When was the last time you entered into this type of work flow, where you actually felt fruitful? It is impossible to create when our attention is diverted. I often think Lin-Manuel Miranda most definitely didn’t write Hamilton by taking a social media break every five minutes. And I think Lin-Manuel is the most brilliant and creative person to ever walk this earth, and I strive to emulate his work ethic. But I can’t when I spend more time on my phone than I do reading or writing. Sure, it’s easier to scroll than to think. But it is a mindless motion, and you know what that makes us? Stupid. We are handing over our time to a piece of technology that doesn’t serve our greater purpose. Rather than indulging in a good novel, free moments are generally spent scrolling relentlessly, snapping stupid pictures to friends and cute boys, or carrying on meaningless text conversations.

Tonight I have seen the errors in my way. And as someone who cannot bottle up her emotions for more than five minutes at most, I had to share. Even if you don’t look at this, the process has led me on a mini-journey of self-discovery. I now feel motivated to abandon all technological accessories, build a log cabin in Maine, and live a prolific writing life as did Henry David Thoreau.