3 Reasons Not to Keep Your Smartphone Nearby While Writing

To post on note,
you have to create content.

And it needs to be useful information
that readers will appreciate.

After writing every day for over a year,
"I can't write well when this is nearby"
is a fact I realized.

That is, quite simply!!

"Having your smartphone nearby".

So... this time,

I will introduce my "writing rule":
"Do not keep your smartphone nearby while writing"
.

There is a big difference in how well writing work progresses "when the smartphone is nearby" versus
"when it is not".

For me, when my smartphone is nearby, my work just doesn't progress m(_ _ )m

Why does having a smartphone nearby
hinder writing progress?

"Three reasons" will be introduced.

I hope readers will enjoy this
while empathizing with the relatable points.

Well then, let's begin.

✔ 3 Reasons
　not to keep your smartphone nearby

I do not keep my
smartphone nearby while writing.

I do all of my writing
on my computer.

In other words,
I do not keep my smartphone on my computer desk.

Furthermore, I do not keep my smartphone
in the same room.

I make it a point to strictly avoid touching my smartphonewhile I am writing.

There are
three reasons
why I do not keep my smartphone nearby.

1. It is distracting

2. Time melts away when you touch your smartphone

3. I hate having my life
controlled by my smartphone

I will explain these three reasons
one by one.

✔ 1. It is distracting

The biggest reason I do not keep my smartphone nearby while writing is
that it is distracting.

When you keep your smartphone nearby, you unconsciously
want to keep an eye on it.

Why do I end up looking at my smartphone...

The most common reason for wanting to look at a smartphone is
the existence of notifications.

I wonder if a friend has contacted me.

I wonder if there is a notification from note.

"I wonder if there's any interesting news."

You think about getting "new information" as notifications from your smartphone like that.

This book states that
"people release dopamine just by knowing a notification exists."

Dopamine is a pleasure chemical.

That is why being in a state of worrying about your smartphone means your brain has fallen into a system where it constantly craves dopamine and worries about the phone.

In other words, just by being in sight or within reach, your brain will

"Don't forget about the smartphone. If you touch it, I'll release tons of dopamine!"
make you conscious of it.

Terrifying.

When you keep your smartphone nearby, you have to do your writing while constantly fighting the temptation of the phone.

Honestly... can you provide useful information to readers while worrying about your smartphone?

I couldn't.

Rather than training myself to be able to work with the smartphone nearby, I quickly gave up and chose the option to

"keep the smartphone away."

Thanks to that, my writing work is progressing smoothly.

2. Touching your smartphone makes time melt away

If you touch your smartphone even once while writing, time will melt away in the blink of an eye.

Exactly...

Five minutes is just a blink of an eye.

If you had five minutes, you could write one or two lines of text.

But that is ruined just by touching your smartphone.

The reason time melts away when you touch your smartphone is that new information keeps pouring out of it one after another.

Once you open a piece of information that catches your eye, that's it. It keeps pushing more interesting information at you, saying, 'How about this? This is good too.'

At the same time, in proportion to the time you spend touching your smartphone, your precious time for writing melts away like ice in midsummer.

3. I don't want my life to be controlled by my smartphone

The final reason is purely subjective, so I hope you can relate to it by saying, 'I guess that's true.'

More than just not keeping my smartphone nearby while writing, I really don't want my life to be controlled by it (´・ω・｀)/

Even though it's such a small box (a smartphone), it steals every bit of our precious time.

If you look something up, you get an answer, and you can get the information you're curious about.

And it happens instantly, right away.

Because smartphones are so convenient and can do anything, I feel like I'm eventually saying, 'Please take over,' to my own life.

That's why I try to think of my smartphone only as one of many tools.

A 'smartphone' is just a tool to make daily life more convenient.

And it is you yourself who lives your daily life.

Life is fun precisely because you act, make decisions, and keep moving forward on your own.

To ensure I don't forget to
enjoy my own life, I make sure
not to keep my smartphone nearby while I write.

* * * * *

✔ The sense of freedom
from not worrying about my smartphone

Since I stopped keeping my smartphone
nearby while writing,
I feel like I've been able to focus on my work
more than I expected.

Before that...
I used to keep my smartphone nearby while working,
so I realized just how much time
I was wasting.

My switch to focus
was being perfectly interrupted
by my smartphone (￣▽￣;)/

Also, by stepping away from my smartphone,
it leads to securing time for things other than my phone.

Instead of spending time
scrolling on my phone as I used to,
I'm now spending my time meaningfully,
like reading or diving into my hobbies.

Do you keep your smartphone
nearby while you write?

If you'd like,
I'd be happy if you left a comment.

I will do my best to reply to everyone.

Well then, until next time.
Goodbye.