You may not realize it, but your phone has become an open door for corporations, scammers, advertisers, and marketers to access you at every hour of the day. Most people accept this as normal because the harassment comes in small bursts of text messages, robocalls, push notifications, and emails. The problem is that perpetual digital intrusion can have a negative impact on your life.
When you’re constantly engaged with your phone, you don’t get much time to sit with your own thoughts, and your brain can’t unwind. Constant digital stimulation creates unnecessary stress and anxiety, kills your attention span, and leaves you exhausted for no apparent reason. It’s taken years for this level of disruption to be normalized. Twenty years ago, it would have been unthinkable.
Your attention is the most valuable commercial product
Companies want your attention because every view and click has the potential to turn into revenue. You think these companies are being cool by sending you coupon codes and deals, but they’re actually reeling you into a long-term marketing funnel where they’ll continue to send you emails and texts until you buy from them.
While emails and text messages are easy to opt out of, robocalls can be a little tricky. When you request to be removed from someone’s list, they’re required to remove you immediately. When you put your number on the official Do Not Call Registry, companies aren’t allowed to call you without your explicit permission. Still, millions of people get annoying robocalls every year.
Laws like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) were created to stop these calls, but many companies violate the law on a regular basis. If you’re on the do not call list or you’ve made unsuccessful requests to be removed from specific call lists, you might have grounds for a TCPA lawsuit.
Notifications train you into compulsive behavior
Studies have shown that people check their phones about 200 times a day. That’s a lot considering most people have jobs they need to focus on throughout the day.
Every time you receive a ding or push notification on your phone, it trains you to instantly click to see what just happened. This is intentional to keep you engaged and to influence you to spend money.
Constant interruptions hurt your ability to focus
Being subjected to digital harassment changes your brain with enough repetition. It gradually kills your attention span and your ability to concentrate for even just a few minutes. The more interruptions you experience, the harder it is to maintain deep focus.
Part of the problem is constant task switching between apps and text messages. If you’re constantly flipping between browser tabs and apps, you’re not fully focused on anything. If you do need to focus on a particular task, a single notification can throw you off.
It takes about 23 minutes to fully refocus after an interruption. When those interruptions happen all day long, it becomes impossible. Over time, this experience rewires you to seek fast dopamine hits that don’t require real engagement. If you’ve found yourself struggling to read long articles, books, or emails without jumping around to other apps, now you know why.
Social media induces hypervigilance
Social media platforms train users to stay in an emotionally reactive state. Algorithms are engineered to deliver content contrary to what people already believe, with the most inflammatory comments in view. For example, there could be 1,000 comments on a post and Facebook will display the comments that are getting the most negative attention. This is by design. Conflict generates more interaction and that means ads get more visibility and companies pocket more revenue.
Unfortunately, the experience of getting triggered constantly by social media content doesn’t stop when you put down your phone. Many people remain in a state of hypervigilance long after they’ve disconnected from a particular heated debate.
Boundaries matter
If you’re always accessible, digital harassment will follow you everywhere. However, it’s avoidable by setting boundaries. You don’t need to stop using your phone completely or delete all of your social media apps at once. Start slowly by reducing the time you spend using social media and designate periods of time for resting without looking at a screen. This will help you recover your attention span and you might even notice you’re getting better sleep and feeling less anxious.
Silence and time to yourself are valuable
It’s easy to feel like spending time on your devices is part of real life, but it’s really just digital noise competing for your attention to make corporations rich. Many people assume digital disruptions are unavoidable, but that doesn’t have to be your reality. Once you understand how your devices and apps are manipulating your behavior to make advertisers rich, you can reclaim your focus and protect your mental space from constant intrusion.
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This post brought to by by Larry Alton
Photo: iStock
