Brain drain: Is Your Phone Distracting You Without You Knowing?

Can simply having your phone nearby make it harder to give something your full attention?

In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Phone-in-the-Room Study — research examining how the mere presence of a smartphone may affect our attention and thinking, even when we aren’t actively using it. We look at what this reveals about the subtle ways technology can compete for our mental resources.

But if a phone can influence us without making a sound or lighting up, how much attention are we really giving to the moment in front of us? Discover how the presence of technology may shape our focus — and what it means for the way we connect, concentrate, and think.

Studies and links

• Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity | Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, Maarten W Bos | Research Gate
• Smartphones are distracting even when you’re not using them | The Journalist’s Resource