Smartphones can make us physically lazy (UberEATS, anyone?), but new research shows they might also be making our brains dull as well.
According to researchers from the University of Texas in Austin, US, having your mobile phone within your reach can significantly reduce your cognitive capacity, even if the device is turned off.
The researchers from the university’s McCombs School of Business conducted two experiments with 800 smartphone users to see if phones had any effect on the brain’s ability to hold and process data at any given time.
In the first test, the researchers asked study participants to take a series of tests that required full concentration for good scores.
The test subjects were asked to keep their phones on silent mode and, at random, place them either on the desk face down, in their pocket or personal bag, or in another room.
The results showed the participants who had their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk, and slightly outperformed those who had their phones in a pocket or bag.
“We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants’ available cognitive capacity decreases,” McCombs professor Adrian Ward said.
“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.”
The second experiment saw researchers look at how a person’s smartphone dependence affected cognitive capacity.
The tests and the instructions this time round were exactly the same as the first experiment except for one small change: some participants were also instructed to turn off their phones.
The researchers found that test subjects who performed the worst were the ones who were the most dependent on their smartphones – but only when they kept their devices on the desk or in their pocket or bag.
And it didn’t matter whether a person’s smartphone was turned on or off, or whether it was lying face up or face down on a desk.
“It’s not that participants were distracted because they were getting notifications on their phones,” said Ward.
“The mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity.”
The study is published in Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.