Guest writer L.R. Laggy from Offgrid Mindfulness explains how tech affects our focus
My smartphone was in my bed with me, every single night. It was taking up too much of my time.
Before I went to sleep and after I woke up it was right there, because it was my alarm clock and my meditation timer.
I eventually kicked the bedtime habit by using a physical alarm clock, and now I’m designing a clock/meditation timer for all the mindful folks out there who don’t want to use their phones as a meditation aid.
In the process I’ve learned a lot about the (mostly – but not completely!) negative ways in which our smartphones are affecting our ability to focus.
Diminishing Attention because of Tech
Microsoft Canada undertook a study to understand the changing nature of attention as related to technology usage.
The findings are super interesting, including one unexpected finding that makes intuitive sense. I’ll get to that one in a moment.
The study found that heavy users of technology and social media had less of an ability to focus for longer periods of time.
Here’s the somewhat unexpected, interesting part:
“…their bursts of attention allow heavier users of social media to process information and encode it to memory more efficiently.”
From a survival standpoint, the ability to process information efficiently could be great news.
But from a social and cultural perspective, it would seem that we now have a decreased ability to answer difficult questions and make significant contributions to society.
Proximity to Your Smartphone Affects Your Cognitive Ability
Research conducted at the University of Texas found that “the mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity.”
Cognitive capacity includes learning ability, logical reasoning, abstract thinking, problem-solving, and creative abilities.
548 students were tested on their ability to focus on a single task and solve unfamiliar problems.
The results?
“Nearly all the students in the experiment reported not being distracted by their phones…. Students who kept their phones on the desk performed the worst on the tests followed by those who kept their phones in a pocket or backpack. The highest performers were the students who left their phones in a separate room.”
The visibility of the phone’s screen and whether the phone was silent or powered off made little difference in cognitive capacity, suggesting that “intuitive ‘fixes’ such as placing one’s phone face down or turning it off are likely futile.”
In conclusion, for overall attention health, stay off your digital devices! And for short-term attention-needing projects, leave your phone in another room.
L.R. Laggy is the creator of the Offgrid Mindfulness Clock, a meditation timer and alarm clock (with a gentle chime alert) that’s NOT connected to the internet in any way. You can learn more about the clock and digital wellness at offgridmindfulness.com
