Welcome to my first formal book review! I’ve been doing these informally with my clients for a long time, and I figured I might as well write up a blog post about them in case anyone else finds the information valuable. In this post, I’ll share the problem the author is addressing, some background about the author, key components of the book, any drawbacks, and whether or not I think you should read it.

The Problem:

Take a moment to think about your relationship with your phone. If you’re like 73% of American adults, you might feel that your phone has a negative effect on your mental health.

And while 76% of us believe we spend too much time on our phones, 74% of us have tried and failed to reduce our screen time.

This is very clearly a big problem. People are losing their ability to sleep, focus, and be present in the moment because of their phones.

For those of us with ADHD, excessive screen time can make our symptoms worse. Problems like inattention, hyperactivity, emotional regulation, and comorbidities like anxiety and depression can get worse.

It’s clear that it’s in our best interest to limit our screen time to preserve our wellbeing, but the problem is that our phones are designed to captivate our attention. Social media is notoriously good at this - it uses functions like infinite scrolling, autoplaying videos, social validation, and algorithms that track your behavior to show you content that’s most likely to keep you engaged and in the app.

These factors make it tough to fight back and reclaim our time. Even the presence of our phone can prevent us from being able to focus for long periods of time.

While our phones can be helpful tools, most of us feel they negatively impact our mental health. They eat at our free time and distract us when we should be present.

The Author:

Nir Eyal is a behavioral design expert who has taught programmers to create persuasive and habit-forming technology. He wrote Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, where he talks about how to create an addictive digital product.

He decided to write its antidote, Indistractable. This book talks about how to regain control over your attention and be free from distraction. And I read it so you don’t have to.

Eyal argues that while technology is built to be distracting, distraction is rooted in deeper psychological needs. He walks the reader through his framework for meeting these needs, overcoming distractions, and becoming “indistractable.”

The Book:

Eyal’s book focuses on a 4-part framework to limit distractions and reclaim your attention: Mastering internal triggers, Making time for traction, Hacking back external triggers, and Preventing distraction with pacts.

Master Internal Triggers

First, you need to identify your triggers, both internal and external.

External triggers are things like notifications, the location of your phone, or the sound of your phone buzzing.
Internal triggers are things like boredom, stress, or our need for validation. These internal triggers are at the core of why we reach for our phones, Eyal claims.

To master your internal triggers, identify your own unique emotional discomfort. What emotions are hard for you to sit with? In what ways does your screen use soothe these emotions? Make a plan to address these emotions.

Gaining a better understanding of what emotions are hard for you to sit with will help you avoid distracting yourself with your phone.

Make Time For Traction

Eyal argues that the absence of structure in your day is what can lead to your attention drifting to your phone. To avoid this, schedule and plan out as much of your day as possible. This way, your day is full of meaningful work and commitments. You will know what you intended to be doing with your time, and so, if you’re on your phone, you’ll know that you’re not supposed to be. This prevents you from mindlessly losing time to scrolling your phone.

Hack Back External Triggers

As much as possible, remove notifications and make problematic apps harder to access. Eyal advocates for setting up your phone in a way that prevents the “slot machine” apps like social media, games, and email from being easily accessible. Use the first screen of your phone for “utility” apps like the calculator, a GPS, and note-taking. You can also keep your “aspirational” apps here: if you’re learning a language, you can keep Duolingo on this screen. Or, if your goal is to read more, place the Kindle app here. Everything else should be tucked away and out of sight.

Prevent Distraction with Pacts

Using precommitment strategies like accountability partners or the built-in screen time limitations in your phone can help you stay on track. Making a commitment to yourself and others increases your likelihood of following through. It’s also important to identify with the changes you’re making. You can say things like “I am not someone who spends hours on their phone,” or “I value being present with my friends and family” to make it easier to make these changes.

Turn off notifications and hide distracting apps to make it easier to ignore your phone.

Conclusions

Eyal believes that distraction is not just about external temptations - it’s about how we handle internal discomfort. Handling this internal discomfort intentionally and mindfully helps limit the pull of devices.
Small habit shifts, like time-blocking and reducing unnecessary notifications, can significantly improve focus.
Being "indistractable" isn’t about eliminating all distractions - it’s about being intentional with attention and time.

Drawbacks

While Eyal provides useful personal strategies, critics argue that he downplays the systemic role of technology companies in designing addictive platforms. I also feel that Eyal focuses too much on promoting his own methods and workshops rather than offering fresh insights.

The book provides general strategies, but doesn’t address how ADHD brains interact with distractions differently. ADHD brains have an even harder time with distractions due to our lower baseline dopamine levels. We also have a hard time with time perception and task switching, which makes the “plan your time” strategy that Eyal recommends incredibly difficult.

ADHD-friendly strategies for reducing distractions need to focus on reducing decision fatigue and automating good habits, because our impulsivity means we’re not able to just decide to avoid distractions - they often happen before we even realize it. Nothing in the book discusses how to build momentum when motivation is low.

Neurodivergent brains are different. While the advice in this book isn’t bad or wrong, there are ADHD-specific challenges that make pieces of Eyal’s advice hard to follow.

Should You Read the Book?

In short: It depends, but probably not.

If you haven’t already started to make lots of changes around your screen use, you might find some value in what Eyal has to say. If you have ADHD, I would emphasize his recommendations on dealing with external triggers, and forget what he has to say about traction and distraction.

Not much in this book is new or riveting information. In fact, he references behavior change author Dr. Katy Milkman frequently. Instead of reading this book, you could read her book: How To Change. I’ve read it, and I think it’s a great behavior change book for those of us with ADHD.

To work on limiting distractions, focus on external supports like body doubling, visual timers, and environment modification. Remember the callout about phone positioning? As much as possible, keep that thing out of the room when you need to focus. Address your impulsivity through delayed gratification, or offering something else as a dopamine source instead of your phone.

I haven’t found a great book yet when it comes to dealing with screen time as an ADHD adult, but I promise I’m working on it!

Health Coach Book Review: Indistractable by Nir Eyal