“Digital addiction” may sound like something you joke about with co-workers and casual aquaintences, but it’s actually more real than you think. In fact, up to 38% of the population displays serious symptoms of addiction to and withdrawal from the internet, including mood changes, preoccupation, inability to control the amount of time spent online, and diminishing social life. Why else would 7 in 10 people still obsessively text while driving, or worse, surf the web while driving for no discernable reason at all.
The internet can be addicting, and it can interfere with responsibilities and legitimate work that you may need to get done today. Here are 9 apps that can help silence digital distractions so you can hit that deadline:
- The Undo List. Undo is a tip sheet for people who make a conscious decision to take a 24-hour beak from technology each week. (And the irony is not lost on us…we’re aware that an app still technically counts as technology.) The Undo List is filled with ideas for conversation topics, readings, local outings and creative endeavors to ease the time away from your computer.
- iA Writer. This word processor app strips away distractions from the writing process by providing a clean typing sheet. The surrounding text fades into the background, reducing the temptation to edit, and the app has introduced a way to format your documents without taking your hands from the keyboard, so no clicking. Focus only on what you’re writing as you write it. (discounted price: $5 for Mac and t$1 iPad/iPhone.)
- Focus Writer. Aiming to provide a simple, distraction-free writing environment, Focus Writer is a word processor app siilar to iA Writer, but for Windows users.
- Freedom. This one is specifically for social media addicts. If you can’t stop checking status updates, Freedom shuts down your Internet access for a set amount of time. And the only way to renege on the set time is to turn off your computer. (price: $10 for Mac.)
- Anti-Social. Another great, slightly less drastic app for disengaging from social media. Anti-Social doesn’t lock you out of the internet completely; it just blocks social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr. (price: $15 for Mac.)
- 30/30. This task-management app divides your tasks into 30-minute segments to keep you on track, though you can adjust the task’s time and type. Maybe you’ve decided you’ll only spend 30 minutes total on internet breaks each day. 30/30 can help keep you on track. (price: free for iOS)
- Unplug and Reconnect. This app makes you conscious of how and where you spend your time, but also helps you focus on one thing at a time that you need to get done. You can also set your phone automatically during a certain time go into Do Not Disturb mode, which send texts to callers to let them know that you’re currently unplugged. (price: free for Android)
CIO has even more apps that can help you unplug and get back to work. And remember, the first step toward recovery is recognizing there’s a problem! So if you’ve noticed yourself wasting far more time than you’d like surfing the web each day, give a couple of the apps above a try. And be sure to let us know which were most effective.