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The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

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Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#221

Post by starik36 »

notadoc wrote: post #58
buf wrote: post #44

I want to learn Japanese. 3 months ago I changed my phone's language to Japanese. Everything is Japanese - maps, services, apps that read from the default phone language. Oddly enough, instead of learning Japanese, I just use my phone less.

That's kind of funny. Similarly, I stopped listening to any music on my iPhone once I got an iPhone 7. Unexpected side effect of having no headphone jack, but I always forget the dongle somewhere. So, no more music from the iPhone. I listen to old am/fm talk radio again instead.

I am always confused about posts like these. iPhone 7 comes with lighting headphones. Why can't you use those? No dongle required.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#222

Post by lucaspiller »

daniel_rh wrote: post #188
vlasev wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A related hack if you don't want to put your phone behind your laptop - put the phone screen-side down. This way the changing states of the screen (when you get a notification) won't distract you.

The researchers specifically tested phone face up vs phone face down and noticed no statistical difference, I believe.

I guess it depends on if you have (and are used to having) you phone make a noise when you receive notifications. I have most notifications set to silent, and some I let vibrate. The only thing that makes a sound is my alarm and calls.

Since smart phones became a thing I've always had them set to vibrate, I don't really see why you need your phone to make a sound (and disturb other people) when you get such things as an Instagram like or a game wanting you to play more. Biggest quality of life improvement was disabling vibrate (so it's silent) for instant messages and SMS (which my phone always notifies me twice about?) - they can wait a few minutes to hours and don't need instant replies.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#223

Post by Cerium »

samplatt wrote: post #217
Iv wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in high school when I first read this opinion (I did not remember it was Socrates though). Also, I learned that Gaul, pre-roman France (where I lived), had a society where the priests/judges, the druids, were forbidden to write down their knowledge. It fascinated me. The idea that books, that were more or less revered depositories of knowledge, could have been seen as anti-intellectual at one time. It pushed me…

I feel that you would adore Dan Simmons first two "Hyperion" books. They're predominantly about poetry and how it's affected the human race, far into the future.

I second the opinion, although I loved the second two, the Endymion books best.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#224

Post by shostack »

thesagan wrote: post #23

I lost mine about six months ago and I haven't replaced it. First couple months I noticed I got VERY irritable when I got a momentary flash of boredom, especially waiting in line in stores, etc. Figured that might've been a budding mental issue, and decided to work on my patience and expectation-setting as a result. This has been part of a larger life exercise in practicing general moment-to-moment mindfullness, and…

I'd love to stop using my phone so much, but I can't break the habit. Short of losing it, any tips for dealing with the stress when it flares up from not having the ability to fill those gaps with refreshes of Reddit, news sites or playing games?

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#225

Post by shostack »

schnevets wrote: post #8

I know that I'm guilty of this - just voluntarily putting my phone in the other room causes withdrawal-like anxiety, followed by a greater sense of awareness. Maybe future generations will see our management of information devices as backwards and unhealthy once we learn more about the human brain, the same way we treat smoking, child-rearing, and daily routines of yesterday as horrifyingly detrimental.

Personally I think it will be the reverse. Future generations will have wetware installed that will augment their brains and memories. Rather than learning memorization skills, they will instead be trained on searching and analyzing the data they can pipe into their brains from outside sources.

I think some of that will come with training for how to avoid brain rot, but when the world's data is at your fingertips, it seems like it might be better to focus the brain on processing vs. memorization. What I'll be curious to see is how we adapt to being always connected like that. Will we see the first true hive minds evolve? Will we lose our sense of self? Will time seemingly speed up?

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#226

Post by hawaiianbrah »

mysterypie wrote: post #180

Has anyone here tried asking everyone to not look at or fiddle with their phones at a meeting they've called or a social event they've organized? How did it work out? What about going the extra step of collecting the phones to be returned when the meeting or event is over? Is there any way to do either of these without coming off as a jerk?

I do this as a coach of a teenage volleyball team. Love the effect it has.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#227

Post by john61 »

nwatson wrote: post #3

Bards pre-literate-times in Greece purportedly could recite Homer's Odyssey themselves after one hearing. Writing destroyed that all. (Maybe I don't have a citation right off, but I've read that on the web or heard it in some college class years ago ... in any case, ability to retain heard information has likely declined since then). But ... few people complain about how books corrupt our memory. So we're the first g…

I just experienced a great boost in capacity for remembering because of massive piano playing / practicing by heart. It is a massive improvement of quality of live to remember things easily without dependency of external tools. I was surprised to remember the train, wagon and seat number by looking on the reservation just once without the training for example. This was never possible in the past, and I hated it.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#228

Post by infogulch »

Iv wrote: post #148
wdewind wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But ... few people complain about how books corrupt our memory. Socrates absolutely did. > for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth,…

I was in high school when I first read this opinion (I did not remember it was Socrates though). Also, I learned that Gaul, pre-roman France (where I lived), had a society where the priests/judges, the druids, were forbidden to write down their knowledge. It fascinated me. The idea that books, that were more or less revered depositories of knowledge, could have been seen as anti-intellectual at one time. It pushed me…

This really speaks to me. I have trouble remembering things, even important things that I know I will want to remember in the future. I forget or it gets fuzzy. Sometimes I can remember better once my memory is jogged, but I can't recall it on demand. That means that things that I should be able to associate pretty easily are never put together unless it's made painfully obvious and explicit.

It's a been a point of frustration for me and the people I'm closest with for several years now. It doesn't seem to affect work nearly as much.

I've had a feeling that it's because I don't let myself just think. Your comment makes me even more sure of this. I've developed habits since I was a teenager to keep my brain constantly busy, always either consuming or producing something. But never integrating or just thinking. It seems I need to replace some habits.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#229

Post by KamiCrit »

What has worked out well for me is a flip phone. The modern ones have all the offline smartphone features you need to get by. Call, text, alarms, calculator, camera. I have found it to be rugged, inexpensive, and one week battery life is a great selling point.

And when I get home to my computer, the refreshing relaxation of the internet is great.

Smartphones making people dumb, dumb phones making people sane.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#230

Post by teirce »

starik36 wrote: post #221
notadoc wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of funny. Similarly, I stopped listening to any music on my iPhone once I got an iPhone 7. Unexpected side effect of having no headphone jack, but I always forget the dongle somewhere. So, no more music from the iPhone. I listen to old am/fm talk radio again instead.

I am always confused about posts like these. iPhone 7 comes with lighting headphones. Why can't you use those? No dongle required.

A lot of people already own headphones that are usually more comfortable / sound better than the standard Apple earbuds.

I suppose it's not "can't", but "won't."

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