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

journals.uchicago.edu

211–220 of 379 posts

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

#211
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'm confused. What does Snap have to gain by talking about how distracting smartphones are?

The researcher apparently joined Snap after the paper was published.

A paper like this would look pretty good on your resume if you're applying to a social media company.

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

#212
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 have two things which stop me, and it's not "muh gps"! I'd be interested in how people dealt with a situation like mine: 1. I have a Mac, and carefully organised contacts. How do I sync them to a Nokia that has 4G tethering (so I can work on my train-based commute) without going through Google? 2. How do you deal with music? I have AirPods and Spotify, which I absolutely love to have with me while walking around. (…

1. NextCloud supports Calendar and Contacts sync if you are comfortable going down that route.

2. They're just bluetooth ear buds, they work with every phone that supports bluetooth.

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

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You have interpreted the parent exceedingly uncharitably. Perhaps I have. However, I don't see how much more "charitably" I can interpret what they wrote. Or do you think that I'm wrong in my assertion? >If one partner in a monogamous relationship suddenly announces that from that day forth there shall be no more sex, the other partner is certainly within their rights to be upset. I don't disagree with that statemen…

> However she, as a sentient being, has agency. As such, she (not me) gets to decide what happens with her body. You're confusing the idea of removing the other person's free will and the obligations that being in a sexual monogamous relationship carry. In a monogamous sexual relationship, if one person refuses to have sex much more frequently than the other, then that can very quickly destroy the relationship. Human…

There is a fine difference between agreeing to do something as a personal sacrifice and being obliged to do so.

Yes, it is reasonable to expect some level of sacrifice. That it is given voluntarily is part of making a relationship work well. But just that being unwilling to make certain sacrifices would put a strain on the relationship does not in turn imply an absolute obligation to them.

> How long would a relationship last of one person started refusing to talk to the other person, at moments seemingly for no reason to the other person? How long would that last?

Having been privy to a (non-amorous) relationship in which exactly this happened, I can tell you that trying to obligate the non-communicative side to communication is exactly the wrong thing to do. That doesn't mean that the relationship is over, but it does mean that there is a grave problem. Solving that problem is the way forward, not insisting on some "moral obligation".

> If you are refusing sex for no good reason

I'm a bit confused what you consider "good reasons". Do I need a "good reason" for not wanting to dance? Or for not wanting to go to the pool? Is it necessary that I communicate my entire mental state in a way that makes the decision retraceable for you, or do you trust me when I say that I really don't feel like it? Or is it only physical incapability that counts?

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

#214
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gym? Just the gym, no music. Walking? The same, enjoying my surrounding. I quit music streaming (tried Amazon, Google) after some trials and concentrate on a selection of music, which I can listen to again and again. I do use a tablet with a 256GB SD card, so have space to store a variety of things. While my musical taste is eclectic (i.e. from classic over techno to glitch) I mostly prefer to either listen to music…

I've started leaving my phone out of my gym time as well. It feels like the right thing to do, but it definitely feels odd or like I'm different somehow. At the gym I go to everyone listens to music while lifting and it's almost surreal to look around while resting between sets to see everyone is dialed into their own little world. I wonder what gyms looked like in earlier generations (I'm only 27). Did people talk m…

Latter seasons of Highlander tell me they were mostly for people to test their rivals out before a final confrontation in another part of the city in the final act.

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

#215
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…

Thank you for this - I am considering making the switch also. The biggest switch for me would be losing music streaming. What do you use for music on-the-go (at the gym, commuting, walking around, etc.)?

Believe it or not, there are still MP3 players (or, more commonly known these days as Digital Audio Players) out there that kick ass.

This Sony device [0] even offers Tidal integration. Not sure if Spotify is among the list of supported services.

[0] https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1538890-REG/sony_nwzx...

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have two things which stop me, and it's not "muh gps"! I'd be interested in how people dealt with a situation like mine: 1. I have a Mac, and carefully organised contacts. How do I sync them to a Nokia that has 4G tethering (so I can work on my train-based commute) without going through Google? 2. How do you deal with music? I have AirPods and Spotify, which I absolutely love to have with me while walking around. (…

1. NextCloud supports Calendar and Contacts sync if you are comfortable going down that route. 2. They're just bluetooth ear buds, they work with every phone that supports bluetooth.

How does next cloud sync to a dumb phone?

The question is where do you store the music since it's a dumb phone

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

#217

I find the majority of responses to these published findings to be fascinating. It's like when we learned in the past few years that humans only have a finite capacity for willpower within a given (short) timeframe. The near universal reaction among my intelligent friends was something like, "Well, I'm sure that's true for all those OTHER people..." Disclosure: My smartphone (currently) remains by my side. But this h…

That conclusion about willpower is quite suspect, fyi. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion.

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

#218
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You have interpreted the parent exceedingly uncharitably. Perhaps I have. However, I don't see how much more "charitably" I can interpret what they wrote. Or do you think that I'm wrong in my assertion? >If one partner in a monogamous relationship suddenly announces that from that day forth there shall be no more sex, the other partner is certainly within their rights to be upset. I don't disagree with that statemen…

It doesn't sound as if you recognize the concept of an obligation at all. Yes, we all have agency. Locking someone in a room without their consent is illegal. Taking someone's money without their consent is illegal as well. But I am nevertheless obliged to remain at work until 5:30, and my boss is obliged to pay me. When we enter into relationships of any type with other people, we willingly sacrifice our agency in m…

You misunderstand my point. I've explained myself several times and yet you still don't seem to get it.

I suppose that may be poor communication on my part. If so, you have my apologies.

However, I'm not going to continue repeating myself.

Good day, sir.

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

#219
post #160

New hot take: I'm addicted to my laptop. The phone barely registers in terms of interest because I work on my laptop anyway, which is less cumbersome to navigate. Notwithstanding the need to separate work from leisure life, much of leisure is just attached to this device. Even the less consumptive activities, like writing or playing music, benefit from it. And anything to do with innovation or research is absolutely…

I am right there with you. I kicked the phone addiction in various ways, but I really like to work on personal projects and they're all on the computer, much like my work, so I'm always on my computer. I have a few tricks. I have a work laptop and a gaming computer, and I do all my personal work on the gaming computer. That helps separate the two. I have a workspace which gets me out of the house and keeps me focused…

One thing that kills me with this setup is having such different dev environments - I spend all day using particular tools, shortcuts, etc. on my work laptop (OSX) then when I try to use my personal computer (can virtualize whatever OS I want, most realistic is Ubuntu for dev) to do projects the flow is totally different and it really slows me down or I worry it will take too much mental bandwidth to switch.

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

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. NextCloud supports Calendar and Contacts sync if you are comfortable going down that route. 2. They're just bluetooth ear buds, they work with every phone that supports bluetooth.

How does next cloud sync to a dumb phone? The question is where do you store the music since it's a dumb phone

Cron job to copy both to a microSD card?
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