These 4 Android Features Helped Me Avoid Distractions at Work

Android's Do Not Disturb feature is one of my go-to solutions for avoiding distractions while at work. It helps me stay off the phone while working by blocking all notifications from distracting apps. You can also choose who should bypass the restrictions when enabled.

To set up Do Not Disturb, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings > Sound & vibration and select Do Not Disturb.
2. Tap People and select Messages or Calls. On the next page, fine-tune whose messages or calls can interrupt when Do Not Disturb is on.
3. Next, select Apps and tap Add Apps. You'll see a list of all your installed apps. Select an app and choose the kind of notifications you want to get from the app when Do Not Disturb is enabled.

For apps, I only allow notifications from work-related and financial service apps. I like to keep my list short, and you should, too, to avoid unnecessary notifications. The same applies to people who can interrupt. Finally, for Alarms & other interruptions, I only allow alarms, reminders, and calendar events.

2 Timers to Restrict My Usage Per App

Another handy feature to avoid distractions is app timers. It's one of Android's Digital Wellbeing tools to help you control your screen time. I set app timers to help me monitor how much time I spend on my phone by deciding how much time I want to spend on each app daily.

For example, I can set the maximum time I'd like to use Instagram daily. To set an app timer on Android, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls > Dashboard.
2. Select an app for which you want to set a timer. Tap Show all X apps to view all your apps if you can't see the target app.
3. On the next page, tap App timer. Then, from the pop-up, select the maximum time limit for the selected app. You'll need to swipe up or down the hour and minute strips to adjust the timer.
4. Tap OK when done to save your changes. A confirmation pop-up will appear at the bottom.

With that set, Android will send an alert one minute before the limit is up. Once the timer runs out, your phone will pause the app for the rest of the day (the timer resets at midnight). Knowing I've already spent X amount of time doomscrolling on social media or watching YouTube videos helps me get back to my senses to avoid wasting the rest of my day.

3 Focus Mode to Pause Notifications From Distracting Apps

Focus mode is a built-in Android feature that's perfect for when I want to focus on something at work fully. It takes a different approach to Do Not Disturb in that instead of deciding which apps or people can interrupt, you only decide which apps to block. I use Focus mode to pause notifications from apps that I consider distracting.

The best part about Focus mode is that it allows you to automatically schedule when your phone enables or disables it. You can also use the schedule option to decide the days of the week you want to use it. Here's how to enable Focus mode:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Navigate to Digital Wellbeing & parental controls > Focus mode.
3. Select the apps you consider distracting by tapping them from the list.
4. Once you're done, tap Turn on now to enable Focus mode.

This is all straightforward, but I prefer setting schedules to automate the process. First, tap Set a schedule, then on the next page, pick the appropriate Start and End times. After that, select which days of the week the schedule should run. Tap Set to save.

With that set, you won't need to tinker with Focus mode manually in the future. It will automatically turn on and off at the set time.

4 Grayscale Mode to Make My Phone Less Fun to Use

Grayscale mode is a feature that strips all the colors from your Android phone, making it display everything in a mixture of black and white. This not only helps me avoid distractions but also, in general, curb my smartphone addiction. It makes your device less enjoyable and could save you from wasting the day.

Follow these steps to enable grayscale mode on your Android phone:

1. Open Settings apps and select Accessibility > Color and motion.
2. Tap Color correction, then enable Use color correction.
3. Select Grayscale from the options.

Doing so will turn everything on your screen to shades of black and white. At the end of your workday, you only have to disable Use color correction to get all the colors back.

Smartphones are handy tools in the modern era, but one of their downsides is constant distraction. Luckily, you can reign in on this by utilizing the various built-in features to help you focus when you need to.

Android provides Do Not Disturb, app timers, Focus mode, and grayscale mode, which I use daily to help curb distractions when I need to focus. You can also leverage these features to reduce distractions at work.

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