Saturday, June 24, 2017

Smartphone Diminishes Thinking Just by Being There #Science

Before going off on this matter, please, please try to get a little less tense since you'll vapor lock by getting all excitable like that.  They did some science and reported something outlandish from it which maybe you don't like so, ok, we look.  Maybe we decide it's rubbish after that but first we look at it.

Shall we play cards, ladies and gentlemen.



The researchers found that participants with their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk.

Credit: © luengo_ua / Fotolia


In one experiment, the researchers asked study participants to sit at a computer and take a series of tests that required full concentration in order to score well. The tests were geared to measure participants' available cognitive capacity -- that is, the brain's ability to hold and process data at any given time. Before beginning, participants were randomly instructed to place their smartphones either on the desk face down, in their pocket or personal bag, or in another room. All participants were instructed to turn their phones to silent.

The researchers found that participants with their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk, and they also slightly outperformed those participants who had kept their phones in a pocket or bag.

Science Daily:  The mere presence of your smartphone reduces brain power, study shows

The Rockhouse has some engagement as well since I just got a smartphone so is that demented device sitting to one side sapping my mind like the brain-sucking spiders from Klendathu?

Ref  "Starship Troopers," a movie in which they took their requisite Hot Babe and killed her, thereby throwing out any potential for a sequel, not that one would have been worth making anyway although the space bugs were cool and the Hot Babe was seriously hot.  (WIKI:  Dina Meyer)


So, how is your focus working out so far and, yes, we were talking about science, as you may recall.


The researchers found that participants who were the most dependent on their smartphones performed worse compared with their less-dependent peers, but only when they kept their smartphones on the desk or in their pocket or bag.

Ward and his colleagues also found that 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. Having a smartphone within sight or within easy reach reduces a person's ability to focus and perform tasks because part of their brain is actively working to not pick up or use the phone.

"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."

- SD

Inasmuch as the Rockhouse is perennially going on about the need for focus to accomplish anything, we have no trouble accepting the validity of the research so the question is what will you do about it.


Maybe you will question the model since there's no way the experiment could be in the blind when the smartphone is obviously part of that.  When the subject sees a test on concentration, etc, it won't be a huge inductive leap to conclude those aspects are related but that knowledge probably wouldn't make much difference.


The Rockhouse doesn't see a reason to trash the science and, by science rules, it's ok to trash someone else's science but, unlike with Congressional rules, first one must understand the content of the science.  Scientists play that game all the time of ripping up each other's work and sometimes that's in the form of a scholarly peer review while other times it results in a combat slashfest but always with full knowledge of the science.

OK, so we took a look and we don't have a problem with it so the next move is yours.

Whoa, you're still thinking about Dizzy, aren't you (i.e. Dina Meyer).

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