Did you know… Something could be attacking your focus, dulling your recall, and making it harder to concentrate on your everyday tasks? And the freaky part is… if you’re like 95% of Americans — this “cognitive drainer” is in the room with you right now. I’m talking about your smartphone. You see, researchers from UT Austin recently tested the effect smartphones have on OUR cognitive function… …. and the results were stunning. Here’s what happened: They took 800 people who owned smartphones, and broke them into 3 groups:
Group 1 sat at a desk with their smartphone facedown next to them
Group 2 sat at a desk with their smartphone in their pocket
Group 3 sat at a desk with their smartphone in another room
Then, everyone answered a few simple math and language questions. Now, these questions were NOT designed to be hard. But get this: The people who had their smartphones in another room did just fine. But… The people with smartphones within reach did worse on their cognitive test.1 And here’s where it gets crazy: The smartphones were turned OFF for the experiment. So what's the connection between lower test results and powered-down smartphones? The researchers theorize that seeing your smartphone (or feeling it in your pocket) is an "associative distraction." In other words: It distracts you by reminding you. Return a phone call... read an article... check the weather... look up movies. The list is endless... Not only that, since you can look up almost anything on a smartphone... if your smartphone is close, your brain will subconsciously work less hard to remember something. It makes perfect sense why those test scores were so low! Now, as someone who owns a smartphone — I love how easy I can stay connected with family and friends… Plus, it gives me access to SO much information. (Back in medical school, I used to spend DAYS in the library. These days? All that info is at your fingertips!) But as smartphones become a bigger part of our lives... it's important to not lose sight of how they might affect us in ways we DON'T notice. (Even when they're off!) After all, as the old saying goes: Too much of ANYTHING can be a bad thing. And with that in mind, I wanted to ask you a question: Are smartphones a great improvement to our daily lives... or are we hurting ourselves in the long run by becoming too dependent on them? I hope you let me know what you think about this. It's certainly not an easy question. After all, I can see both sides of the argument… and they both make sense! The other day I was hanging out with my nephews, and they were GLUED to their smartphone screens. Then again, I remember years back my older uncles told me The Andy Griffith Show was going to rot my brain! It just goes to show, with current technology... you never know what's going to happen. That's why I’m really fascinated to know where you stand on the topic of smartphones. So don’t hesitate to hit reply and let me know what you think. After all, reading your emails is the highlight of my day... so I'm looking forward to your thoughts. To your longevity, Dr. Rand McClain Chief Medical Officer
Source: 1Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, Maarten W. Bos. Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2017
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