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owilderman

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 29, 2023
14
25
I find myself three finger swiping my way over to messages, Discord, or even MacRumors when I should really be focusing on work. I never had this issue when I used a Mac. How do you make sure that you are staying on task on your iPad. I know it can be done. I just need some guidelines to go off of.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,686
10,988
Guided access is one of those ways to make sure you are focused on one app and one app only. Focus mode can also help.

Ultimately tho, you have to concentrate on your work.
 
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Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,669
22,211
Singapore
When I am teaching in class, I have a focus mode which blocks all incoming notifications (more to avoid sensitive messages from being seen by students). It also replaces my home screen with one that only the apps I need for teaching (again, more for ease of access).

The intent is not so much to prevent distractions, but I am guessing the two biggest culprits are notifications and ease of access to apps?
 
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m0nkeyb0y

macrumors regular
Jun 16, 2009
157
109
Honestly, sometimes I delete off apps, activate parental controls, and have my wife deactivate the App Store so I can't re-add them. Or activate parental controls, have someone else set the password, and put on your own time limits.
 

Rafterman

Contributor
Apr 23, 2010
7,015
8,370
Self control. My work and play stuff happily reside together on Mac and iPad, just don't play when you should be working.
 

theXid

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2023
5
6
This bothers me too. On mac, I would get distracted just as easily, and I agree with others here that internet-capable devices are just distracting in general and any on-device tricks or features like Screen Time can only do a little bit to keep you from getting distracted. Instead, you can look into task management or practice focus through meditation.

One main difference with macos, though, is that ipadOS lacks a desktop and Spaces. On mac, if I got distracted, at least the windows I was working on before were all still open in the same place, waiting for my return. On ipad, instead, there is only the App Switcher, a big pile of all the apps I've ever opened, with no way to keep me locked in. I would also love to know more fixes for this problem.

One fix I've found is to make a Shortcut for workstations I use a lot. For example, I have a language class Shortcut which opens two apps in Split View (the relevant note in Goodnotes along with a dictionary app) and another app in Slide Over, and activates the work Focus Mode. Saves time, and I find this way of opening apps already decreases my chances of getting distracted. But it doesn't work with Stage Manager (which lacks most Shortcuts integration), and can't be used for tasks where the apps I use are not the same every single time.
 

theXid

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2023
5
6
[...] I am guessing the two biggest culprits are notifications and ease of access to apps?

Self control. My work and play stuff happily reside together on Mac and iPad, just don't play when you should be working.

I would add that the main culprit by far is social media, which have reduced its users' attention spans to a mere 30 seconds or less. The solution does come down to "self control", but that implies the problem is easy to fix. There is nothing easy about being cripplingly addicted.

Yes, you can fix this, but you first need to recognise the problem exists.
 
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