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Focus

Reilly Chase

• 5 min read
Focus

Two years ago I stopped reading the news and left the social media feeds.

It's not a new idea.

But I did it with a particular seriousness.

I installed apps on my iPhone and MacBook to block everything with no way for me to bypass... more on that in a bit.

But first, some of the reactions from people I talk to:

  • "Do you live under a rock? How did you not know about ____?"
  • "You can't just ignore what's going on in this country!"

...part of this process was finally realizing how few things going on in the world actually make a difference in my life.

It took a while to get over the dopamine withdrawals and fear of missing out.

What does matter:

  • A small group of people I care about
  • My business

I'm still sympathetic to suffering in the world.

But I don't believe that me consuming content on it is helping anyone.

I don't need to know about natural disasters, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, politics, protests, violence, the economy, or wars.

If I did feel strongly about a particular issue, I would work on doing something about it.

"Well you need to at least be aware of what’s going on in the world!"

Actually, I don't.

If there's anything important for my life that happens someone is going to tell me.

Even most news that isn't relevant to my life I still hear about from other people.

I try to create and connect online now. Not consume.

But addictions are hard to quit.

So here's my practical guide.

iPhone blocking

Blocking notifications

I went on Do Not Disturb for two years straight.

I block all notifications, incoming calls, and messages other than from my wife.

Not while I'm working - I mean at all times.

When I get some time I check and catch up, call and text people back.

And sometimes I don't.

Blocking websites and apps

I use Opal.so on my iPhone, but not the way it's intended to be used.

It's supposed to be used to block apps/websites for a set amount of time so you can focus on work, and then it unlocks.

But I wanted to block social media and news on my phone forever.

So here's how I did it:

The max time period you can block for is 24 hours.

I created a recurring 24 hour block. It temporarily opens up from 5:50am to 5:55am allowing me to stop the next 24 hour block from starting.

But I'm usually asleep at that time anyways... and I left it enabled for over 2 years now.

The great thing about Opal compared to other solutions is it uses Apple Screen Time, locking it up with a PIN that only it knows.

There's no way to bypass until the time period ends.

MacBook blocking

I'm less restrictive on my MacBook because I'm only on it 9am-5pm M-F while I'm working.

These are my productive hours and the temptation to waste time on news and social media is much lower.

But I still have apps to help.

I found UnDistracted, a Chrome Extension that I use to all hide content from:

• Facebook Reels and the entire feed

• X "For You" feed

• LinkedIn feed

• YouTube Shorts

Here's my X feed.

It can be disabled easily within the Chrome Extension settings, but that small amount of friction is surprisingly effective at reducing my social media consumption on MacBook.

If I want to really focus, I use Opal for MacBook and set up a session for a short time period to work on something specific, usually 1 hour.

Like the iPhone app, there is no way to bypass it before the timer ends.

Pomodoro technique

Pomodoro is a time management technique that boosts focus by breaking work into 25-minute, distraction-free intervals (called "pomodoros") separated by 5-minute breaks. After four consecutive sessions, a longer break of 15–30 minutes is taken to recharge.

Doing these focus sessions has been helpful for me.

Specifically using the timer below.

I don't follow the 25 minutes on/5 minutes off method strictly.

I prefer to do 50 minutes then 10 minutes.

When I'm in the gym I started setting the 50 minute timer and I tell myself whether I get this workout done or not I'm leaving when the time ends. It has cut my workouts down from 1.5 hour to 50 minutes while still getting ~90% of it done.

Benefits

  • More energy and less anxiety after getting off the dopamine loop
  • More time for deep thought and longterm planning
  • Replaced short form content with long form - books and podcasts
  • Feel feelings more, better self-awareness because of time to reflect
  • Better relationships because of better self-awareness and communication
  • Time for learning new things
  • Longer attention span

Downsides

  • Literal withdrawals, but they don't last forever
  • Feeling a lack of spontaneity or new ideas
  • Isolation from losing my online community
  • Can't make small talk about current thing in the news

Antidote

For me the benefits outweigh the downsides.

But the downsides are still real.

In particular I've been feeling very isolated the last two years because of it.

X was my social life.

It was where I hung out and chatted with people who are like me.

Great ideas and inspiration came from these informal, spontaneous social interactions.

So this year I'm doing something different.

I'm going to try to connect on a real level with a smaller group of people.

Instead of following a thousand people and DM'ing with dozens of them, I reached out to a small group of business owners who I'd like to get to know better. Ideally on the phone and in person this year, not over DM.

I unfollowed 1,000+ people on X and now I only follow ~40.

I changed my UnDistracted settings to allow the "Following" feed on X but still hide "For You" so I don't get dragged back into the algorithm.

Conclusion

I try to think about such things.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV): "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things".