The smartphone wasn’t designed to hijack our attention—it was designed to be indispensable. But somewhere along the way, it started doing both. While they’ve become essential for navigation, coordination, and connection, smartphones also pull us into behaviors that fragment our focus, drain our energy, and steal our ability to be present.
The numbers speak for themselves: In 2023, the average U.S. smartphone user checked the phone 144 times, spent four and a half hours on the phone, and intercepted constant interruptions bringing users back to the screen. Our devices are brilliant at capturing attention but terrible at respecting it.
We’re meant to be productive and focused, despite apps fighting for our attention, sucking us into endless scrolling, and helping lose track of how we want to spend our time. These behaviors don’t just steal moments—they shape habits and distance us from our goals. Why is it so hard to take back control?
One reason lies in how devices are designed. Many apps use gamification techniques like rewards, streaks, and variable reinforcement—borrowed from game design—to keep users engaged. These mechanisms exploit our psychology, turning tools into traps. What began as a way to enhance user experience now prioritizes screen time over well-being.
Meanwhile, the “default effect”—a cognitive bias that nudges us toward baseline settings—further complicates things. While smartphones offer customization features to streamline our consumption, these rarely overcome the powerful habits formed by defaults. Together, gamification and defaults create a cycle that keeps users engaged but not necessarily in control.
Figure 1 A mere minimalist approach, stripping away functionality, would also sacrifice digital creativity. Source: frog
Some minimalist devices and feature phones have attempted to solve this by stripping away functionality. While effective at reducing distractions, they often sacrifice the digital creature comforts—payment, health tracking, or photography—that make smartphones indispensable in modern life. The challenge isn’t to do less but to do better.
Principles for intentional interactions
To address this challenge, we envision a smartphone concept that fosters focus without sacrificing our digital creature comforts. This design reimagines apps as ephemeral: a core set of essential apps are selected to remain on the phone daily, while additional apps downloaded during the day disappear by evening, resetting the device to a clean slate every morning.
Figure 2 New guiding principles like curation, intentionality, and resistance can give smartphone users better control. Source: frog
This approach gives people an extra lever of control over their attention and is guided by three principles rooted in behavioral science: curation, intentionality, and resistance.
- Curation: Thoughtful defaults for pre-commitment
Digital devices often pull us into experiences we never intended, whether it’s social media, news, or games. A redesigned smartphone encourages users to pre-select a core set of essential apps that align with their intentions.
Inspired by Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, this approach minimizes the impulsive, reactive “fast brain” and creates space for the deliberate, reflective “slow brain.” Pre-committing to essential apps helps users focus on what truly matters and avoid distractions.
- Intentionality: Reducing decision fatigue
Our brains make roughly 35,000 decisions a day, and the mental energy required quickly adds up. Even deciding not to engage with an app is a choice. By automatically removing non-essential apps overnight, a reimagined smartphone eliminates visual cues that drain willpower, keeping the daily experience focused on essentials.
- Resistance: Friction as a feature
Introducing friction can help users break habits formed by unconscious engagement. Instead of mindlessly launching an attention-grabbing app, requiring users to reinstall it creates a moment of reflection. Behavioral research shows that even small barriers can disrupt automatic behaviors and encourage intentional decision-making.
Rethinking technological rituals
Smartphones are both marvels of utility and sources of unintended consequences. By rethinking the principles that guide their design, we can create tools that serve users’ intentions rather than exploiting their attention.
Incorporating thoughtful defaults, reducing decision fatigue, and strategically introducing friction can empower users to reclaim control of their time and focus. The future of smartphones isn’t about limiting functionality but rather giving people agency—offering experiences that align with our priorities and values while respecting our boundaries.
Technology brands that design products to help their users focus, while reducing the mental load of distractions and excessive decisions, can deliver real value to their users in the form of greater mental clarity, better use of their time, and more rewarding engagement with their devices and the world around them.
Emma Brennan is senior interaction designer at frog, part of Capgemini Invent. She is a multi-disciplinary designer passionate about translating design research into products and services aligned with user needs and behaviors, spanning both physical and digital spaces.
Inna Lobel is head of industrial design at frog, part of Capgemini Invent. Her cross-disciplinary work spans a broad range of industry verticals and product types, including consumer products, breakthrough technologies, healthcare, climate tech and sustainable design.
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