Is it a productivity hack?

Or is it a distraction?

Does strapping a supercomputer to you wrist make you more informed, or more effective at what you do? How about enabling notifications?

Or consider placing a hands-free AI-assisted speaker on your desk (or in your ears)—does it make you more productive?

Smart devices might be nice things to have, (and they often are). But we need to stop fooling ourselves by supposing they inherently make us any better off.

That’s not to say we can’t leverage the tools we have to better ourselves. But leveraging a tool and being distracted by one are two entirely different things.

It really comes down to intention and volume. It’s one thing to use a great app to guide your mindfulness practice. Or to jot down your thoughts. Or (even) to help you be less distracted. It’s entirely another, however, to use applications and devices to divert and occupy our attention every chance we get.