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The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

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Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#41

Post by stagehn »

perlgod wrote: post #37
stevensawtelle wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you talk more to the practicalities of getting rid of a smartphone? Have you seriously found that the loss of the conveniences they bring haven't been that burdensome? I am really intrigued by the idea but find it almost inconceivable to work for me (which might speak to an addiction, so I feel compelled to understand this further)

I have not found it to be overly burdensome. I have an indestructible kyocera flip phone, so I'm able to call people (and SMS in a pinch). I have an LTE-enabled tablet, so if I'm going somewhere totally unfamiliar, I'll throw it in my bag just in case I need to look up some information. Otherwise you just have to plan your outings in advance - like we always did prior to 2008 or so. I have a Garmin GPS mounted in car…

Thank you for sharing these experiences

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#42

Post by Jtsummers »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #28
JJMcJ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to laundromat. Bring book, this time I'm going to get some reading done. Oooh, moldy golf tournament (or soap opera) on TV. And there goes 90 minutes.

Last week when I was in a hospital waiting room, I knocked out A Brief History of Time in one sitting. That thing's been on my bookshelf for at least ten years untouched. I'm not sure it significantly enhanced my life (though it helped my understanding of the fabric of the universe, I guess?), but it felt like an accomplishment.

I spent a good chunk of the last few years in physical therapy. Before sessions in the waiting room, and during the period of the session where they're applying heat/cooling or electricity I got a lot of reading done.

I had a rule, broken recently and I need to restore it, of no electronics in my sitting room. Made it a very productive reading area as well. No laptop, tablet, kindle [0], or phone. At most I listened to music in it. Part of the problem was I started reading some programming books and wanted to code up things along with the text (like working through math exercises while reading a math book). I need to start handwriting the code and type it up at the desk later.

[0] It's a Kindle Fire in my case. Which offers some of the same distractions, despite being lower power, as a tablet or phone. I did use it in there when I was actually reading on it sometimes. But it's a risk.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#43

Post by perlgod »

blackearl wrote: post #35
stevensawtelle wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you talk more to the practicalities of getting rid of a smartphone? Have you seriously found that the loss of the conveniences they bring haven't been that burdensome? I am really intrigued by the idea but find it almost inconceivable to work for me (which might speak to an addiction, so I feel compelled to understand this further)

I would think it's better to develop the will power to not hop on your phone whenever available, take a breath, smell the flowers, but also still have the option of something as amazing as GPS. Not really interested in going back to pulling over and looking at a map these days.

"muh GPS" is definitely the most common argument people give me. Garmin still makes car GPS units. I have one and it works well.

To be fair, I was able to refrain from mindless scrolling all the time. But with the phone nearby, I always wanted to mindlessly scroll during every random quiet moment.

I liken it to an alcoholic keeping an ice cold beer on his desk all day, but doing his best not to take a sip. Why subject yourself?

I experimented without a smartphone and I am happier as a result. This will probably not be the case for everyone. But, if you ever feel like a slave to your own technology, I highly recommend trying it out.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#45

Post by sumtechguy »

stevensawtelle wrote: post #15
perlgod wrote: post #10

Getting rid of my smartphone was without a doubt the most positive thing I ever did for myself. I'm sure some people have the self-control to use it sparingly. But for me, not having to constantly fight the urge to check my always-connected magic pocket internet portal has freed up a huge amount of my mental willpower, which I can now redirect to other more important things. Now that everything is closed, I don't eve…

Can you talk more to the practicalities of getting rid of a smartphone? Have you seriously found that the loss of the conveniences they bring haven't been that burdensome? I am really intrigued by the idea but find it almost inconceivable to work for me (which might speak to an addiction, so I feel compelled to understand this further)

I have found many smart phones have a low power mode. This basically makes the phone into a phone that can run voice, text, and maybe one other application. The upside is the battery lasts like a week. If it was not for hangouts I probably would put my phone in that mode for that reason alone.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#46

Post by bobthechef »

maurimtl wrote: post #3

I get it - the act of staying away from your phone is taking up cognitive capacity. And if you're addicted, the constant reminder to check also takes cognitive capacity. Sex is no different - if you're single, or married and you want more sex than your significant other - believe me, sex will reduce your available cognitive capacity. The constant thought of how do I get more of it (single or married) I'm sure does mo…

Managing the appetites requires self-denial. In the case of married couples, the spouse has a moral obligation to satisfy the other sexually within moral and reasonable limits (i.e., sexual abuse or objectification of the other is never admissible).

Phone addiction is in this sense easier. It can also be managed through abstinence or even eliminated cold turkey if you wish because we have no intrinsic desire for phone use, but we do have an intrinsic desire for sex.

And yeah, the passions, when we are ruled by them instead of ruling over them, can darken our minds and enslave us. (In your example, the "daughters of lust" are apropos.) A man has as many masters as he has vices.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#47

Post by Jtsummers »

blackearl wrote: post #35
stevensawtelle wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you talk more to the practicalities of getting rid of a smartphone? Have you seriously found that the loss of the conveniences they bring haven't been that burdensome? I am really intrigued by the idea but find it almost inconceivable to work for me (which might speak to an addiction, so I feel compelled to understand this further)

I would think it's better to develop the will power to not hop on your phone whenever available, take a breath, smell the flowers, but also still have the option of something as amazing as GPS. Not really interested in going back to pulling over and looking at a map these days.

Developing will power is one of those "easier said than done" things. At the end of a long day of work, without my phone, I find my ability to focus is shot. Especially since I can't work out like I used to, a few more weeks and I should be able to again. Workouts physically exhaust me but restore my mental focus. There are lots of things that drain people (emotionally, mentally) that leaves them in a similar state, where having the device present is just too strong a temptation and then an hour or more is gone.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#48

Post by tqi »

socalnate1 wrote: post #26
joshe wrote: post #18

"Journal of the Association for Consumer Research" and vague implied effects on mental state both pretty good indicators that this will not replicate. About half of psychology papers don't replicate anyway, the field has been doing some house cleaning, which is awesome, but needs to do a lot more. Oh you can add that all the researchers are marketing professors at business schools (one now at Snap). Good job on the m…

I find this response overly dismissive. Did you read the paper or just the abstract? Dismissing the work of marketing professors out of hand isn't the right approach. What if this is one of the half of psychology papers that do replicate?

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/08/scientis...

While I definitely agree that one shouldn't be overly dismissive without reading the underlying paper, the abstract can actually be surprisingly predictive.

"Beyond statistical issues, it strikes me that several of the studies that didn’t replicate have another quality in common: newsworthiness. They reported cute, attention-grabbing, whoa-if-true results that conform to the biases of at least some parts of society. One purportedly showed that reading literary fiction improves our ability to understand other people’s beliefs and desires. Another said that thinking analytically weakens belief in religion. Yet another said that people who think about computers are worse at recalling old information—a phenomenon that the authors billed as “the Google effect.” All of these were widely covered in the media."

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

#49

Post by Shared404 »

jupp0r wrote: post #38
Shared404 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old guys know stuff. Many times, it's useful stuff other's have forgotten.

I agree with you and GP at the same time.

Both are sides of the same coin. I just figured I'd bring up the other side.
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