Smartphones are important communications that are essential to daily living. However, they have the tendency to cause interruptions and reduce your productivity when studying or working. Whether you’re reading for an important exam, attend a meeting, or go out for a date, below are some easy strategies to make your phone less distracting.

Switch off notifications

If you check your phone every 10 or 15 minutes, you really don’t need to activate push notifications. So you right ahead and turn off those email notifications that can make your phone distracting especially when you’re busy doing something else. You may still want to keep some alerts that you consider important, but the point is to turn off as many notifications as possible. See this article on how to switch off notifications on an Android smartphone.

Activate silent mode

This is a great way to still keep tabs with what’s going on in your inbox and still ignore your phone when you’re busy doing something. Simply activate silent mode so that your phone does not make any sound or issue an alert when something new has happened.If you’re using a more recent version of Android smartphone, you’ll be able to turn on the ‘Do not disturb’ mode, which essentially mutes everything and prevents your phone from being a distraction.

Get rid of apps you don’t need

You probably have a few apps that issue notifications, but which you don’t need. Get rid of these. This is more so a good idea especially if turning off their notifications doesn’t seem to be working. The idea is to keep your phone packed with only the essential apps. So go right ahead and do away with that weather app that’s issuing notifications every few hours. If you have more than one messaging app, consider removing the less essential ones. After installing all those apps you rarely use, you’ll find your smartphone to be less distracting.

Get an app to do the job

If none of the options highlighted above make sense to you, it’s time to find a third-party solution to do the job for you. The Android app marketplace has no shortage of tools designed to make your smartphone less of a distraction. Good examples include the Forest app, which blocks access to your apps during specific times. Others include Android Moment and AppDetox that encourage you to spend time away from your phone.Whatever options work for you, go for it. Don’t be a smartphone junkie who can’t spend a few minutes (or hours) away from the screen.
Image source: AnandTech
 

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