White Paper

Cultivating Deep Work in the Workplace Julia S. Chianelli, MS ’20 December 9, 2018

2

Executive Summary Distractions and interruptions constantly plague us, especially in the digital age where emails, texts and social media notification posts bombard us while we struggle to stay focused on the assignment at hand. This is problematic, especially since it can take you up to 20 or 30 minutes to return to your work once you have been interrupted. As a communications professional who spends the bulk of my time writing, I know firsthand the deleterious effects of interruptions while writing an article or working on a presentation on a very tight deadline. Whether you work in an office or in an assembly line, staying focused on a task is key to performing well and achieving success. I recently learned about the 52/17 Rule: work for 52 minutes and take a break for 17 minutes to boost productivity. This white paper addresses the growing problem of smartphone addiction, its alarming consequences to our health, family and society, and shares tips on how to work more productively using Cal Newport’s deep work principle.

The Problem: Smartphone Addiction Is Real “Nomophobia,” the fear of not being able to use your cell phone or other smart device, is on the rise, and so is smartphone and Internet addiction. Studies show that this addiction is harming our minds. In his blog post, Bank of England analyst Dan Nixon argues that the distraction from smartphones may be hurting productivity. “It takes office workers an average of 25 minutes to get back on task after an interruption, while workers who are habitually interrupted by email become likelier to ‘self-interrupt’ with little procrastination breaks.”

3

Compulsive use of mobile devices can interfere with your work, school and relationships. When you spend more time on social media than interacting with real individuals, or can’t stop yourself from repeatedly checking texts, emails, or apps—it may be time to reassess your technology use. Excessive smartphone use diminishes your ability to concentrate and think deeply or creatively. It also impacts your memory, affects your ability to think clearly, and reduces your cognitive and learning skills. The persistent sound of your smartphone can distract you from important tasks, slow your work, and interrupt those quiet moments that are so vital to creativity and problem solving. Many of us are seduced by the likes, validations and promises of connections and friendships. Unfortunately, people overlook the dark side of social media, where it degrades our well-being, makes us more opinionated and judgmental, monetizes our relationships, strips away our privacy, consumes our precious time, fosters bullying, and gives license to toxic and offensive trolls to speak their minds.

Email Overload It is not only important to recognize a precipitous increase in smartphone addiction but also the stark adverse effects of frequently checking emails. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, white-collar employees spend 28 percent of their workweek reading emails. They check their messages 74 times a day, on average, according to Gloria Mark, an expert on workplace behavior and a professor at the University of California, Irvine. Much of the checking occurs at home, according to Jennifer Deal, a senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership. Most of the employees were tied to their email 13.5 hours a day, well into the evening.

4

Clive Thompson, a science and technology writer, advocates for ending the “tyranny of 24/7 email” and commends German companies Daimler, Volkswagen, and Deutsche Telkom, which adopted policies that impose limits on after-hours email. At Edelman, a global public relations firm in Toronto, managers created the “7-to-7” rule, which strongly discourages employees from emailing one another before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Thompson argues that similar practices can be adopted in the United States and says, “So as a matter of sheer human decency and workplace fairness, reducing the chokehold of after-hours email is a laudable goal.” However, he admits that these changes cannot happen through personal behavior. “The policy needs to come from the top,” he adds. According to Tristan Harris, a former Google employee who went rogue by exposing the unsavory secrets of tech companies, “Silicon Valley is engineering your phone, apps and social media to get you hooked.” Called “brain hacking,” companies responsible for programming our smartphones are diligently working to get us to feel the need to check in constantly. Harris likens our smartphone to a slot machine. You check your phone to see what reward you received. “This is one way to hijack people’s minds and create a habit. To form a habit,” he says. Psychologist Larry Rosen and his team are researching the effect that technology has on our anxiety levels. Their study concludes that our smartphones are keeping us in a continual state of anxiety.

Consequences Our desire to connect with others and express ourselves come at a steep price. It is critical to understand the highly damaging impact of being a cell phone junkie. The pernicious effects that smartphone addiction have on physical and mental health, neurological development, personal relationships, and safety on our roads and sidewalks are sobering. Smartphone use is partially to blame for the distracted driving that kills nine people each day and injures more than 1,000. Health ramifications include text neck, poor posture, sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression. Heavy dependence on your smartphone also damages your ability to focus and be attentive. According to a 2015 Microsoft Canada report, the average human attention span had shrunk from 12 to eight seconds between 2000 and 2013. This revelation is quite troubling, especially since the average attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.

5

John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an expert on attention-deficit disorder (ADD), said that the problem is intensifying. “We’re not developing the attention muscles in our brain nearly as much as we used to,” he says. He noticed that the symptoms of individuals with ADD and those with smartphones are “absolutely the same.” The smartphone exerts such a magnetic pull on our minds that the effort of resisting the temptation to look at it takes a toll on our concentration.

Damages Families and Personal Relationships The digital drift affecting families is disturbing. According to the Center for the Digital Future, an American think tank, between 2006 and 2011, the average number of hours American families spent together per month dipped from 26 to nearly 18. Distracted parents are potentially putting their children in harm’s way, according to Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist and research associate in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Between 2007 and 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found a 12-percent increase in injuries to children under 5. The years coincide with the American Recession and the introduction of the iPhone. Smartphones are making parents pay less attention to their children and it could be causing emotional harm. Lactation consultants in Canada and the United States have noticed the prevalence of nursing mothers texting and scrolling their phones while they breastfeed, breaking valuable eye contact and bonding time with their baby. Researchers at Cambridge University discovered that eye contact synchronizes the brainwaves of infant and parent, which aids in communication and learning.

6

For her 2013 book “The Big Disconnect,” Dr. Steiner-Adair interviewed 1,000 children between the ages of 4 and 18 and discovered that many of them no longer run to the door to greet their parents because the adults are frequently on their phones when they arrive home. She adds that it gets worse once they’re through the door. The parents are so glued to what is happening on their smartphone screen that they appear to have been transported into another dimension, leaving their child behind. This makes the child feel endless frustration, fatigue and loss. Psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge examines how the advent of the smartphone and rise of social media have negatively impacted the iGen generation (individuals born between 1995 and 2012). Rates of teen depression and suicide have risen since 2011, the allure of independence holds less sway over today’s teens, and teens are spending less time on in-person social interactions, making loneliness more common. Electronic devices and social media have also led to sleep deprivation, which is linked to myriad health issues such as weight gain, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety. One of my graduate school classmates shared with me that her peers typically do not go out on dates. They engage in “talking” (a euphemism for texting) before they consider dating. Incredibly, the smartphone has even altered our students’ rite of passage. Jane Brody, personal health columnist for “The New York Times,” believes that moderation is key to keeping a healthy relationship with digital technology. According to psychotherapist Nancy Collier, “We are spending far too much time doing things that don’t really matter to us.” She has encountered individuals who have become “disconnected from what makes us feel nourished and grounded as human beings.” She reinforces, “It’s connections to other human beings—real-life connections, not digital ones—that nourish us and make us feel like we count. Our presence, our full attention, is the most important thing we can give each other. Digital communications don’t result in deeper connections, in feeling loved and supported.” Collier adds, “The only difference between digital addiction and other addictions is that this is a socially condoned behavior.” Become very conscious of what is important to you, and devote more time and attention to it.

7

Reduces Your Cognition

Illustration by Rob Dobi for “The Washington Post” According to research conducted by Kristen Duke, Adrian Ward, Ayelet Gneezy and Maarten Bos, cognitive capacity is impaired by having one’s own smartphone nearby. The mere presence of smartphones can have a negative impact on our ability to think and problem solve, even when we aren’t using them. The same effect holds true if we aren’t looking at them, when they are face down, and when they are completely powered off. In addition to cognitive and health-related consequences, having your smartphone out can distract you during social experiences and make them less enjoyable. Justin Rosenstein, the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button, is worried about the psychological effects of technology. There is a growing concern that technology is addicting users and contributing toward “continuous partial attention,” limiting one’s ability to focus and possibly lowering IQ. Tristan Harris believes that technology is changing our ability to engage in the conversations and relationships we want to have. Loren Brichter from Twitter admits that smartphones are useful tools but are addictive. Chris Marcellino from Apple agrees. “Technologies can affect the same neurological pathways as gambling and drug use,” he says.

8

_______________________________________________________ “Relationship, caring and nurturance have driven our evolution as a species. We modify them at our peril.”

— Ravi Chandra, MD ________________________________________________________

A Timeline: How Did We Get Here? Our world dramatically changed when the late tech titan and Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the public on Jan. 9, 2007, at the Macworld 2007 convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Fast forward to today, this mobile device has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. Apple packaged their dopamine dispensers in the most alluring way so as to make people want to and be able to use it non-stop. The phone’s large screen was its most seductive feature, which has a unique power to absorb attention quickly. In 2007, the average American was absorbing the equivalent of 174 newspapers a day via various sources including TV, texting and the Internet. This is five times more information than what they consumed two decades before. Our brains aren’t built to soak in all this information at one time. As a result, we end up paying attention to information that isn’t valuable or interesting because they flash up on our smartphone screens. Over time, these distractions result to a loss of raw brainpower. In the first five years of the smartphone era, the proportion of Americans who said Internet use interfered with their family time jumped from 11 percent to 28 percent. Ten years into the smartphone era and the age of connectedness, we learned that being connected to everyone constantly makes us less attentive to the people we care about most. Adam Greenfield, writer and urbanist, noted the sociological, psychological and environmental impact that the smartphone has had on our society. This mobile device led to the extinction of many innovations, including the telephone booth, the boombox, the Walkman, the transistor radio, the Rolodex and the map. He adds that the wristwatch, calendar and boarding pass will soon face a similar fate. Metropolitan social rituals such as hailing a cab, asking for directions, meeting at a landmark or in an iconic area such as under the clock in Grand Central Terminal in New York City, purchasing a newspaper in a newsstand and using a pay phone have become a thing of the past.

9

The Solution: Deep Work Cal Newport, author of “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,” believes that in order to succeed in today’s economy, one must be able to perform deep work. He defines two types of work: Shallow work – tasks that are noncognitively demanding and can often be performed while distracted; low value and easily replicable. Deep work – activities performed with distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts are difficult to replicate and cannot be outsourced. He also shares the vital importance of deep work in the Intelligent Machine Age. To thrive in what MIT economists Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee refer to as the Great Restructuring, they both identified three groups that will flourish in our new economy: 1) The high-skilled workers – those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines. 2) The superstars – those who are the best at what they do. 3) The owners – those with access to capital to invest in new technologies. Newport argues that the first two groups are accessible and that the following two core abilities are critical to succeed in the new economy: “The ability to quickly master hard things. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.” Newport also shares his fundamental law of productivity: High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus) He explains that if you maximize your intensity when working (e.g., writing or studying), then you maximize the results you produce per unit of time spent working. Benefits of Deep Work ______________________________________________________ “The good idea comes in the moment of rest.”

— Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of “Hamilton” ______________________________________________________

10

Newport addresses how business trends such as an open office concept, serendipitous collaboration, rapid communication and social media are considered more important than deep work in today’s business climate. He argues that these trends decrease one’s ability to perform deep work. Newport also mentions that knowledge work is not an assembly line, and many knowledge workers adopt a “busyness as proxy for productivity.” He’s concerned that deep work will take a back seat in favor of more distracting high-tech behaviors such as social media. He believes that deep work should be a priority in today’s business environment because it will become an increasingly rare and invaluable commodity. When you go deep, you will reap great rewards. Newport explains that deep work can generate as much satisfaction in a digital economy as in a craft economy. He discusses the neurological, psychological and philosophical arguments for deep work and says, “What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore plays in defining the quality of our life. Your world is the outcome of what you pay attention to. There’s a gravity and sense of importance inherent in deep work. If you spend enough time in this state, your mind will understand your world as rich in meaning and importance.” Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory states, “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” He called this “flow” and says, “the feeling of going deep is in itself very rewarding.” ______________________________________________________ “A deep life is a good life, any way you look at it.”

— Cal Newport ______________________________________________________ According to Newport, “The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration.” He shares four philosophies of deep work scheduling: 1) Monastic – maximize deep efforts by eliminating or dramatically reducing shallow obligations. 2) Bimodal – divide your time by dedicating some for deep pursuits and leaving the rest open to everything else.

11

3) Rhythmic – transform deep work sessions into a simple regular habit by generating a rhythm so that it eliminates the need for you to invest energy in deciding if and when you’re going to go deep. 4) Journalistic – “fit deep work wherever you can into your schedule.” Newport also addresses the following elements needed for a ritual to be effective: location for your deep work efforts and specific time frame for the sessions; rules and processes to keep your efforts structured; and ensure that your brain gets the support it needs to keep operating during deep work. He also emphasizes the importance of downtime and the shutdown ritual. Next Steps Take the time to do what Newport calls a digital detox for 30 days. As part of my graduate school blog post assignment, I detoxed from watching, reading and listening to news from all types of platforms: digital, print, social media, TV and even radio for five days. I’m a self-professed news junkie. I read, watch and listen to the news throughout the day: the moment I wake up in the morning, as I’m getting ready to go to the office, while driving to work, during my lunch hour, while running errands, on my commute home, during dinner and before going to bed at night. I thought that my five-day journey would be challenging, but I underestimated myself and the power of deep work. The five-day experiment helped me realize that keeping abreast with the news consumes a big chunk of my day. I learned that the countless hours spent on this shallow activity should be shifted toward more face-to-face interactions with family and friends, listening to music and reading. Since my detoxification, I don’t spend too much time trying to keep up with trending or breaking news. I’m perfectly happy getting it from a friend while grabbing a coffee or going out to lunch. Tips on How to Combat Distractions Newport asserts that deep work habit requires you to treat your time with respect. Cognitive neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and psychologist Larry Rosen share some strategies on how to combat distractions. I also included additional tips. Pick and choose from the following: Accessibility – Set up your work and home environment to avoid being distracted and interrupted.

• Turn off your smartphone at certain times of the day. • Don’t bring your phone to bed, and use an old-fashioned

alarm clock to wake you.

12

• Don’t charge your phone in the bedroom. Setting aside some time to place your smartphone in another room and keeping it away will make you more engaged and cognitively adept. Boredom – Take brief breaks (examples below).

• Exercise (yoga is ideal) • Expose yourself to nature (watch a sunset, go on a hike,

water your garden). • Daydream • Take a 10-minute nap. • Carry a sketchbook and draw. • Write in a journal. • Listen to music. • Take your dog (if you have one) for a walk in the park.

Anxiety – Establish a “90-20 plan” that indicates you will be off the grid for 90 minutes and will check and answer communications during your break. As Newport indicates, checking email is shallow in nature. Meditate – Replace your mobile device time with healthier activities such as meditating or interacting with real people. Five minutes of meditation will enhance your outlook. Even one minute can change your energy and emotional state. Advance Planning – Plan in advance what you’re going to do with your evenings and weekends before they start. For example, set aside time for structured hobbies, read, exercise and my favorite: enjoy in-person company. Newport also recommends that you decide in advance what you’re going to do with every minute of your workday.

13

Quit social media – In addition to email and Web surfing, Newport considers social media a shallow activity.

• Remove social media apps from your phone. • Turn off notifications. • Change your screen to gray scale.

______________________________________________________ “If you give your mind something meaningful to do throughout all your waking hours, you’ll end the day more fulfilled, and begin the next one more relaxed, than if you instead allow your mind to bathe for hours in semiconscious and unstructured Web surfing.”

— Cal Newport ______________________________________________________ If you adopt these strategies, you will avoid the pitfalls of distractions and interruptions, enhance your cognitive ability, reduce goal interference, aid your distracted mind, and deflect what Newport refers to as productivity land mines. According to him, “Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.”

14

Final Thoughts It is never too late to cultivate a deep work habit in both your personal and professional life. Some individuals might feel that the benefits of smartphone use outweigh the harmful effects that accompany this time-and-attention vampire. However, Newport was spot-on when he said, “By taking the time consumed by low activities—like finding old friends on Facebook—and reinvesting in high-impact activities—like taking a good friend out to lunch—you end up more successful in your goal.” I couldn’t agree more. Face-to-face interactions with family and friends is priceless and not replicable. Time spent with loved ones and friends is time well spent. There is simply no substitute for it. Newport sums up his argument for deep work beautifully: “A commitment to deep work is not a moral stance and it’s not a philosophical statement—it is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done … To leave the distracted masses to join the focused few is a transformative experience … Depth generates a life rich with productivity and meaning.” So take the 30-day digital detox challenge, unplug and embrace Newport’s deep work principle. Your mind, body and soul—as well as your family and friends—will thank you for it.

15

References Andrew-Gee, E. (2018). Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. so why can’t you put it down? The Globe and Mail.Com, Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/your-smartphone-is-making-you-stupid/article37511900/ Beck, J. (2018). How it became normal to ignore texts and emails. The Atlantic.Com, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12/former-facebook-vp-says-social-media-is-destroying-society-with-dopamine-driven-feedback-loops/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b347cafd8337 Brody, J. E. (2017). Hooked on our smartphones. New York Times.Com, (January 9, 2017) Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/well/live/hooked-on-our-smartphones.html Brueck, H. (2018). This is what your smartphone is doing to your brain — and it isn’t good. Business Insider, Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/what-your-smartphone-is-doing-to-your-brain-and-it-isnt-good-2018-3 Chandra, R. (2018). Is facebook destroying society and your mental health? Psychology Today, Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/201801/is-facebook-destroying-society-and-your-mental-health Duke, K., Ward, A., Gneezy, A., & and Bos, M. (2018). Having your smartphone nearby takes a toll on your thinking. Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-a-toll-on-your-thinking Foer, F. (2017). How silicon valley is erasing your individuality. The Washington Post.Com, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-silicon-valley-is-erasing-your-individuality/2017/09/08/a100010a-937c-11e7-aace-04b862b2b3f3_story.html?utm_term=.0b3900487fb7 Gazzaley, A., & Rosen, L. D. (2018). Remedies for the distracted mind Behavioral Scientist, Retrieved from http://behavioralscientist.org/remedies-distracted-mind/ Greenfield, A. (2017). A sociology of the smartphone. Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Retrieved from https://longreads.com/2017/06/13/a-sociology-of-the-smartphone/ Harris, M. (2018). I have forgotten how to read. The Globe and Mail, 2018 (September 2018) Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-have-forgotten-how-toread/article37921379/

16

LaMotte, S. (2017). Smartphone addiction could be changing your brain. CNN.Com, (December 1, 2017) Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/health/smartphone-addiction-study/index.html Lewis, P. (2017). Our minds can be hijacked: The tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia. The Guardian, Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia#img-2 McCarthy, E. (2018). Breaking up with your smartphone is really, really hard. just ask these people. The Washington Post.Com, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/breaking-up-with-your-smartphone-is-really-really-hard-just-ask-these-people/2018/02/07/941f23bc-0906-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.7da8cecc06e2 Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world (First ed.). New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group. Smith, M., Robinson, L., & and Segal, J. (2018). Smartphone addiction - tips for breaking free of compulsive smartphone and internet use. Helpguide.Org, Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/smartphone-addiction.htm Thompson, C. (2014). End the tyranny of 24/7 email. New York Times.Com, (August 28, 2014) Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/opinion/end-the-tyranny-of-24-7-email.html Thompson, C. (2017). Social media is keeping us stuck in the moment. This Magazine, Retrieved from https://this.org/2017/11/15/social-media-is-keeping-us-stuck-in-the-moment/ Twenge, J. M. (2017). Have smartphones destroyed a generation? The Atlantic, (September) Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/ Wang, A. B. (2017). Former facebook VP says social media is destroying society with 'dopamine-driven feedback loops'. The Washington Post.Com, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12/former-facebook-vp-says-social-media-is-destroying-society-with-dopamine-driven-feedback-loops/?utm_term=.9f9f760442c4 Campanile, G. (Producer), &. (2017). What is “Brain hacking”? tech insiders on why you should care. [Video/DVD] CBS News, "60 Minutes". Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-hacking-tech-insiders-60-minutes/