You will see bits and pieces of the Focus Method pop up in the oddest places. A well known tech columnist Michael Arrington for example recently wrote a piece about giving up his Droid and iPhone for a simple no frills pre-paid cell.
The [pre-paid] phone has features such as making calls, receiving calls, a speakerphone that’s better than any smartphone I’ve had, and a battery that seems to last forever. It also does text messaging and has a variety of cheesy ring tones to choose from.
That’s it. And five days later after heavy usage I’m not sure I’m going to stop using it.
When we got our iPhones, what did we let into our lives?
- A music store
- An app store
- A gaming device
- Dozens of apps
- Instant Notifications from various apps– facebook, twitter, foursquare, cnn, nyt, etc.
- Always-On AIM access
These things are fun and cool, but did we choose to let them in our lives, to bombard us with information? Or did they come with the package, were they a default value and did we just sit back and say ok?
Are these distractions necessary? Just because you can have the information at your fingertips, do you want it there taunting you every time you pick up your phone? Are there apps in your home screen that you never use? Why are you looking at them every time you turn your phone on?
The answer to these questions is going to be different for every person, and for the most part it is about the degrees. The important part is becoming aware of the questions, aware of the bombardment, aware of the choices. If you decide you do not want so much bombardment, choose otherwise and try limiting the sources of bombardment in your life. I have 4 screens of apps on my iPhone, but my home screen has only the apps I really use frequently. The bottom bar is truly a representation of all I use my iPhone for: Phone and Mail.
