“So I was reading The Chronicle of Education the other morning and…………wait, what was I saying. Oh yes, The Chronicle article, it was really interesting about analytics being used for student success and………..so yes, it was really interesting. Hang on, I just got a text I need to answer.”

Each pause in the above paragraph represents moments in daily conversations when my iPhone notifies me about something, I react, and then proceed to lose my focus on the topic at hand. Yes, I am guilty of reacting to the stimulation provided by the daily distractions from notifications on my iPhone and email notifications and instant messages in my daily work.  However, I have been making a determined effort to not take my iPhone with my everywhere or shut off the notification during the day so that I am totally focused on a single task. If you can’t leave your phone behind or completely shut off notifications, I’ve been experimenting with some other solutions for staying on task during the day.

Noisli, an online tool that combines a distraction-free zone and with customizable sounds is a resource highly regarded by the folks at ProfHacker for a distraction free online sanctuary. To take advantage of Noisli, sign up for an account, design your sound (thunder, water, rustling leaves, etc..), set a timer for the desired amount of time you’d like to be focused on a task, and use the plain text editor to write. There is also a Noisli iPhone app.

Speaking of apps, at least one report suggests that we look at our smartphones, on average, 150 times a day. Pretty easy to believe considering the sure volume of notifications we get from email, social media apps, fitness apps, news sources, and text messages. Each notification is an individual invitation to stop concentrating on a single task and shift our focus to the notification and any action related to it. Context-switching, as it is referred to, is a productivity killer. Enter the anti-app-smartphone apps to help. I know, more apps to engage with the smartphone, but if you have to keep your smartphone by your side they may help with productivity.

Offtime features time-blocking and smart app blocking to help you schedule distraction free time during your day to work on a single task. If you still need to keep communication open with certain family members (kids that need a ride), Offtime has a feature to allow calls/text from certain contacts to come through the blocking feature. Similarly, Flipd features a custom lock screen with a timer, allows only certain contacts to reach you, and provides analytics on your phone usage. Finally, Moment is an iOS app that tracks your phone usage and allow you to set limits for a day or a specific period of time. Through the green, yellow, and red traffic light warning system, you’ll get an initial warning that your time is close to up.  But, if you hit the limit, your phone will automatically blank out.

The point is, technology can be the cause of many of our distractions, but you can also use it to turn off notifications and pings for attention from our smartphones or computers. Technology is part of our daily lives for work and family life, we just need to find the right balance between engagement with it and distraction-free tasking.