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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)

#71

Post by wussboy »

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.

Will power don’t really work that way. Studies show it is an exhaustible resource and if you’re using it all day to fight of pulling your phone out of your pocket, you won’t have it for anything else you do in your day (and you’ll STILL probably pull your phone out!)

The people with the best will power have organized their lives so that they don’t need will power.

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

#72

Post by shados »

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…

The urge to use it right before bed (and at the same time wrecking your sleep quality, and then messing with your next day) is huge too.

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

#73

Post by burkaman »

geocrasher wrote: post #24
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…

I get the same thing by A) not watching the news B) turning off notifications for almost all apps C) the real magic key to keeping control of your smart phone, instead of letting it control you is hang on Hello? Look I'm right in the middle of something I'll... yeah. I know I ... I KNOW. Look, I gotta go. Anyway, as I was saying... uh... well anyway. Phones suck.

Why would you answer if you can't talk? That seems a lot more rude to me than not picking up and calling back when you have time.

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

#74

Post by joshe »

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?

Scanned the paper too with sci hub. Nothing remarkable.

But we should be dismissive of any new results from psychology, it just doesn't have systems in place to validate claims. There is some cool stuff in psychology that has been replicated 20 times, across different cultures, and over time. But the chances of a headline psychology paper being true are, generously, 5%.

To be far to the authors, they are in a bit of a bind. In order to get their Phd, and progress in their academic career they have to do "original" research.

For psychology for the last 40 years, this means do stuff like this. Get cohorts together and test claims. When one is statistically significant, publish. They really didn't have much of a choice other than drop their career. They are probably nice people who just want to teach college classes. Misinforming people is an unintended side effect and more an indictment of academia than of them.

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

#75

Post by gadabout »

DiffEq wrote: post #40
geocrasher wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the same thing by A) not watching the news B) turning off notifications for almost all apps C) the real magic key to keeping control of your smart phone, instead of letting it control you is hang on Hello? Look I'm right in the middle of something I'll... yeah. I know I ... I KNOW. Look, I gotta go. Anyway, as I was saying... uh... well anyway. Phones suck.

I have had my office phone on Do Not Disturb for 5 years and my cell phone has all notifications turned off and the ringer is set to off. The only time i turn it on is if I am expecting a call - which is hardly ever. Same with my PC - no notifications...it helps a great deal to keep the tool a tool instead of letting it become your master.

Culling down notifications was a life-changing action for me. Like you, I turned off almost all notifications.

My only notifications were texts/calls from people that depended upon me (my wife, my parents, my best friends). Interacting with apps and my phone in general after that became something either I chose or chose not to do. My phone was no longer an algorithm or other person controlling me, but instead a useful tool.

This is obviously a luxury that I am able to work and live like this, but I would encourage everyone to turn off any notifications they can and see how they feel after a week or month like that, then revisit and turn off more if possible.

I would also say that some form of control is still required. Whether that is self-control, technological control, or control via absence. I struggled a lot with whether I should delete Reddit from my phone to make sure I don't end up in an abyss of lost time. Eventually I settled on moving it a ridiculous number of empty screens over by itself in an unusual spot. If I want to open Reddit now, it is a very deliberate action that gives me time to ask myself "you sure?" but also doesn't take away that option of my life.

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

#77

Post by mdiesel »

wussboy wrote: post #68
perlgod wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Thanks for your great response. I’ve often considered doing something like this. I wonder if there is a way to accomplish many of these things while still carrying your phone? For example, what if your phone took 5 minutes to unlock? And didn’t give notifications until you unlocked it? Just a thought.

My OnePlus (not sure how widespread the feature is on android) has a Zen Mode, once started you can't use the phone for most things until the timer elapses.

A bit different, but good if you want a break.

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

#78

Post by justinlloyd »

_def wrote: post #58

I recently took a camping trip with some friends (one weekend) and left my phone at home. Except for not knowing which time it is, it was a very positive experience.

"What time is it?"

If I am awake it is after 9:30AM but before 4AM. If I am asleep it is after 4AM but before 9:30AM. Only my dog cares about the any other time such as: time for a walk. time for breakfast. time for a nap. time for dinner. time for another walk. :-)

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

#79

Post by Accacin »

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…

I also did this, although only for a while. I first removed all notifications and apps from my phone (although I do not use social media anyway), and eventually went to some cheap flip phone. However, once I had to go rescue my wife when she locked her keys in the car.. And it took me 2.5 hours when it should have taken 1 hour because I got lost...

I've taken to using my smart phone but leaving it at home as much as I can, I only take it out if I'm going out for a long period of time now and I'll take my dumb phone so my wife can contact me if possible.

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

#80

Post by justinlloyd »

Jtsummers wrote: post #42
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think you raised a valid point about "offers some of the same distractions."

I found I got less reading done (but more screen time) when I used an Android tablet (Kindle or Samsung) as my e-reader than I did when I use my dedicated SONY ebook reader.

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