Despite the convenience of modern electronic devices, they have side effects. If we use them constantly, then our concentration decreases, we become distracted and hyperactive.
Smartphones have become the best-selling type of electronic device in history. Now they have about half of the adults in the world. By 2020, 80% will own gadgets. According to some surveys, 95% of smartphone owners use them during parties and meetings with friends, 70% at work, and 10% are so dependent on these devices that they even look at their phone during sex. The average user works with a smartphone 2 hours a day.
Canadian psychologist Kostadin Kushlev1 decided to explore with colleagues how smartphones affect our ability to focus. “It hasn’t been ten years since Steve Jobs promised us that smartphones would ‘change everything’. Today, with an Internet-enabled device in everyone’s pocket, we’re constantly bombarded with notifications: text messages, emails, social media posts, sports program reminders. We wanted to understand how all this affects our brain,” says the researcher.
“At the end of the first week, participants showed symptoms similar to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – impulsivity, inability to concentrate, boredom with prolonged work, constant switching of attention, inability to sit in one place for a long time”
Scientists invited 221 students to participate in the experiment. The test itself lasted two weeks, and in the first week, participants had to turn on all the sounds and notifications on the phone and keep it with them at all times. In the second week, they should, on the contrary, turn off all notifications and put the smartphone away. At the end of each week, students filled out questionnaires that allowed them to assess their psychological state.
At the end of the first week, the participants showed symptoms similar to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — impulsivity, inability to concentrate, boredom during prolonged work, constant switching of attention, inability to sit in one place for a long time. In contrast, at the end of the second week, students experienced significantly fewer of these problems. The good news is that you can deal with these unpleasant phenomena without giving up your smartphone, but simply by putting it into “silent mode”.
“Even if a small percentage of smartphone users make careless mistakes, fail to communicate properly with friends, or miss out on important meetings as a result of these problems, the productivity, personal relationships and well-being of millions of people still suffer as a result. It appears that the constant stimulation we receive from digital devices contributes to the chronic attention problems that are increasingly prevalent in society. Try to put your phone on «silent mode» more often — not just when going to the movies. Your brain will be grateful to you,” explains Kostadin Kushlev.
1. K. Kushlev et al. «Silence Your Phones»: Smartphone Notifications Increase Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms», Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.