Smartphones are an endless source of distraction, people interact with them every four or six minutes. This is often caused by a habit, as well as notifications, which leads to a violation of the activity flow, while the owner of the phone tries to be productive.
Nevertheless, this may seem an obvious solution – to postpone a smartphone – this may not be enough to reduce distracting factors and deposit or increase concentration. This established research by scientists from the London School of Economics, published on the boundaries of computer sciences.
As part of the study, scientists have studied whether the location of smartphones is out of reach when working for their use for work that is not related to work:
- 22 participants were asked to work within two days in a separate soundproofing room, where they brought devices that usually have with them for work – at least a laptop and a phone;
- They did not change the notifications settings, and the messages they received were in no way controlled by the researcher;
- Two options were investigated, which differed only at the distance between the participant and his phone – in the first case, the phones were placed on the table on which the participants worked, in the second – on a separate table at a distance of 1.5 m from it.
It turned out that:
- Although the limited availability of smartphones led to a decrease in their use, the participants in the study were not less distracted – instead, they switched their attention to laptops;
- Regardless of the conditions, participants did not spend various amounts of time and leisure time.
In addition, the results showed that the phones were a favorite device for distraction.
This is your relationship with loved ones and work. This is your navigation system, an alarm, a musical player and a source of information. It is not surprising that people turn to the instrument that does everything, ”said the researcher Dr. Maks Haitmeyer. – Even if you do not have a clear goal, you know that he has your social networks and can provide entertainment.
Although computers can perform the same functions, they are less pleasant, they are not so convenient and portable.
The problem is not in the smartphone itself. The problem is what we do with this, and, frankly, in applications that cause and aggravate these habits, ”adds Haitmayer.
According to researchers, in order to reduce distracting notifications that they are settings, so that they are at a certain time or turn it off in any case, which helps users be more careful in their time, is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that in reality we will not stop taking phones in the near future.
Every time a short break is taking place, people check their phones, regardless of what their system they have. And there are social networks – this is a completely different beast, ”says Haitmayer.
He adds that “each of us is conducting a very uneven battle when he uses the phone”:
Things inside the phones, which most attract the attention of large corporations that make a huge profit from our inability to resist the temptation to use them; All this is literally intended.
Heytmayer believes that in the future we must focus on protecting users, especially young people.
These devices are incredibly useful and can contribute to training and creativity, but they have a price that most adults try to control, so we simply cannot ignore this, ”he summed up.
Source: boundaries in computer science
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I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.