---
title: "Chapter 3: Flow"
date: 2026-10-01
description: "I had hoped that removing smartphones would help me achieve focus, especially on difficult tasks, while working. However, my work in tech meant sitting at a computer all day anyway,..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/flow
---

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# Chapter 3: Flow

I had hoped that removing smartphones would help me achieve focus, especially on difficult tasks, while working. However, my work in tech meant sitting at a computer all day anyway, inevitably immersed in the online sources fragmenting my attention. I wanted to sustain Cal Newport’s idea of deep work but found it too grueling to sustain regularly. The psychology of flow offered a tantalizing promise of complete immersion without consciously being aware of distractions. I attempted to enter states of flow with documentation, but didn’t make much progress. I also explored parts of the brain that might be responsible for derailing my focus, such as the Default Mode Network (DMN) versus the Task Positive Network (TPN).

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- [3.1 From smartphones to Netflix: moving past plateaus in growth](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/limits-of-growth-shifting-burdens.html)
- [3.2 Techniques for deep work from Cal Newport](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/newport-deep-work.html)
- [3.3 How to move from focus sessions to flow sessions](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/from-focus-sessions-to-flow.html)
- [3.4 Applying Csikszentmihalyi's psychology of Flow while writing technical documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/csikszentmihalyi-dynamics-of-flow.html)
- [3.5 From monkey mind to calm, ordered consciousness?](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/from-monkey-mind-to-calm-consciousness.html)
- [3.6 What the DMN and TPN modes of the brain teach us about focus](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/dmn-and-tpn-brain.html)