Holiday Ayo - Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, isn't sure if he would have become a billionaire growing up in today's era, amid the distractions of smartphones and social media.

However, Gates helped make computers and the internet ubiquitous. However, he may never have built Microsoft without the time he spent as a child traveling around with friends, exploring the outside world, and reading and thinking deeply in his bedroom for hours on end.

"When anxious or bored, or in trouble for misbehaving, I would disappear into my room and lose myself in a book or idea, often for hours without distraction," Gates wrote on his blog.

"The ability to turn free time into deep thinking and learning is a fundamental part of who I am. It is also important for my success later in life," he added.

In his blog, Gates recommends the book: "The Anxious Generation," by New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, which explores how smartphones and social media are changing children's brains.

The book argues that this technology is playing a role in creating a youth mental health crisis, characterized by increasing levels of loneliness and depression in Generation Z.

Constant use of smartphones and social media can have a negative impact on young people's memory, ability to concentrate and attention span.

Gates chose a game-based childhood that inspired creative thinking rather than the cellphone-based childhood that many children experience today.

"Our attention spans are like muscles and the incessant distractions and addictive nature of social media make it extremely difficult to thrive," Gates wrote.

Throughout his career, Gates often credited his success to his reading habits and ability to isolate himself.

In the 1990s, he would retreat to a remote cabin in the wilderness with nothing but a large bag of books and papers.

During this period, Gates is committed to concentrating without distraction. He won't even check email so he can read, think and write about the future without distraction Productivity expert Laura Stack calls it brilliant.

"We must create an environment that provides the ability to focus our minds without distractions from coworkers, partners, children, pets, and technology, or we will never be able to concentrate on high-level activities," Stack says.

Gates' intense focus helped spur big ideas, including Microsoft's development of Internet Explorer.

"Without the ability to focus intensely and follow an idea wherever it leads, the world could miss the breakthroughs that come from focusing on one thing," Gates wrote.