Most people don't leave home without their smartphones, but new research shows that constant connection may come at a cost.
Researchers at the University of Toronto said the mere presence of phones — even when they're turned off — can take up people's time and attention and make it harder to work and complete tasks.
"We were surprised because most of the research on attention would suggest that if people are not being consciously distracted, so they're not looking away at their phones, they should be able to perform. But it seems as if just merely having it there still occupies resources," Assistant Professor and Research Fellow Kristen Duke said.
Duke said during the experiment, participants were separated into three different groups.
"They either left their phones in the lobby in a separate room from where they would be participating in our experiment, or they brought their phones with them and carried them however they naturally carried it. So for some participants, this was in their pockets. For others, this was in a bag," she said. "And then the third group of participants, we asked them to put their phones out on their desk in front of them.”
Then, each group was given a task and tested on how well they could focus and problem solve.
"We wanted to see if having your smartphone in your vicinity — compared to having it in a separate room, out of view, out of sight, out of mind — might impact people's performance on these two different types of tasks," Duke said.
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"We found that the location itself matters. So people were most affected when their smartphone was visible. So when it's out on the desk in front of you, that is essentially the strongest cue to remind you of your phone and sort of have these negative consequences," she said.
More surprising, however, is that when the phone was lying face down with notifications silenced or turned off completely, the presence of it had an impact on a person’s cognitive capacity, and made it harder for them to process and remember information and problem-solve, according to the study.
"We find that people are sort of unconsciously always attending to the possibility of their phone needing their attention and the requirement to sort of override that impulse to check and see if you have a notification or sort of prevent yourself from being distracted," Duke said.
How to Minimize Brain Drain
One way researchers say you can lessen brain drain is to carve out some time each day away from your phone or set it aside in a different room while you work.
"Plan to have these sort of defined and protected periods of time," Duke said. "Myself as well, I started this project where I would be working on my computer and have my phone off to the side. I didn't think anything about it, and these results have actually changed how I think about how I interact with my phone and other technology."
Duke said the University of Toronto is expanding the study and looking at how wearable devices like the Apple Watch and technology like Amazon’s Echo impact cognitive thinking.
