Image credit: PexelsAre smart phones making us dumb? Yes, according to research from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin.
According to the study, which set out to prove this theory with a set of experiments, just the sight of our smart phones is enough to impair a person’s ability to hold and process information (in real time).
The experiments involved observing a number of volunteer students’ performances on computerized tests meant to measure their cognitive capacity.
In some cases, participants were asked to store their phones in their pockets or bags. In another instance, participant’s phones were kept in an entirely different room. The third group of participants had their phones visible on their desks (though with the screen side facing down).
The participants who stored their phones in an entirely different room performed better on the tests than the other two groups, but only slightly better than the group that had their phones placed in a pocket or bag.
“We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants’ available cognitive capacity decreases,” said Assistant Professor Adrian Ward. “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.”
An additional experiment asked participants to rate their smart phone dependency. After answering, the participants were tested again using the same three scenarios as in the first test. Unsurprisingly, those who indicated feeling dependent on their phones did significantly worse on the tests, but only in scenarios where the phone was visible on the desk or stored away in a pocket or bag.
“It’s not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones,” explained Ward. “The mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity.”
