Just like a toddler wants their blankie to comfort them, we want our phone! For many of us, our phone has become our adult blankie. We reach for it to relieve our boredom, stress, our loneliness or whenever we needs some comforting. It makes us feel safe.
As I discussed on Sunrise, this emotional reliance we have on our phone is one of the reasons we get so distracted by them. We pick up our phone when we’re halfway through writing a sentence at work, or doing our housework. Sound familiar?
Digital distraction has become a big issue many of us are grappling. A whopping 85% of us are physically and emotionally drained from these unrelenting distractions. A study from University of London really hits home about how this impacts us. It shows that when we don’t manage digital distraction it leads to a 10 point drop in our IQ. That’s equivalent to smoking marijuana- we become slower thinking, less focused, less able to problem solve. It impacts our work but also if were not managing digital distraction at home we bring the same hazed feeling into our home as a parent and to our relationship.