Technology is incredible - it improves our lives and makes them so much easier.
If you don't know something you can google it, if you are lost you can use your GPS navigation, and if you don't have cash you can pay with your phone.
But as amazing as technology is - it also has its downsides. It's easy to rely on it too much, and instead of improving our abilities, that can actually make us dumber.
A recent study from the University of Texas has shown that the presence of your smartphone is enough to reduce brain power - even when the phone is off.
As shocking as this may sound, it's true - simply knowing that your phone is within reach already has a "brain drain" effect on our cognitive abilities.
But now, let's look at the details of the study:
Experiment 1
The 800 study participants were sat down in front of a computer and asked to take a series of tests that require full concentration.
The tests were designed to measure the participant's cognitive capacity, their ability to process data at any given time.
The participants were randomly assigned in three groups: Some were asked to place their smartphones on the desk (face down), some were asked to put it in their bag or in their pocket (where they'd naturally put it) and the last group put their phones in a different room.
All phones were turned silent.
Results
The group who had their phones in a different room significantly had the best results.
Next were the ones who kept their phones in their bags, closely followed by the participants who had their phones on the desk.
This shows that the mere presence of a smartphone - even if it's face down and on silent - already reduces the cognitive capacity!
Even though the participants felt like they were focusing completely on the test, subsconsciously knowing that the smartphone was within reach impaired their cognitive functioning.
"We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants' available cognitive capacity decreases. Your conscious mind isn't thinking about your smartphone, but that process - the process of requiring yourself to not think about something - uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It's a brain drain. It's not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones - the mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity."-Adrian Ward, Co-Author of the study
Experiment 2
For the 2nd phase of the study, the researchers wanted to assess how a person's self-reported smartphone dependence could influence their cognitive capacity.
So first, the participants were asked to self-report how strongly they feel the need to have a smartphone to get through their everyday life.
Then they were given the same tests as the first group and were also asked to either put their smartphones on the desk (face up this time), in their bag or in a different room.
This time, some participants were also asked to turn off their phones completely.
Results
Those who were most dependent on their smartphones in everyday life performed worse than the others, but only when the phone was within reach on the desk or in their bags.
Interestingly, it seems like there is no difference between having the phone on or off, face up or face down on the desk.
Simply having it within sight was already enough to impair the person's focus because a part of their brain is actively working to not pick up the phone.
“Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention – as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones – the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence.”
Conclusion
The study results have shown that having our smartphones within sight (or reach) reduces our cognitive abilities significantly - especially for those with smartphone dependancy.
What's interesting is that it doesn't actually matter if the phone is on or off, if it's laying on a desk face up or face down - just merely knowing that it's there is already enough to reduce our focus.
The authors suggest that this is because a part of our brain is always actively avoiding to use or pick up the phone!
So next time you have to concentrate on a difficult task or get some work done: make sure to place your smartphone in a different room to maximize your productivity!
© Sirwinchester