It sounds odd when you perceive it at first, but haven't we all had a reminder that kept itching at the back of our heads whenever our phones vibrate while studying, for example. Some of us will surrender and check, while others will persevere and avoid looking at their phones. Even while I am typing this, I am keeping an eye out on my phone for any messages or notifications.
The research study was published two weeks ago by a team of three psychologists from the Florida State University. The study suggests that phone notifications alone significantly disrupted performance on an attention-demanding task.
The research consisted of 212 undergraduate students who were assessed on how well they kept their attention on a certain task. During the test, numbers would flash in front of them and they were to hit a key when they did.
The task was performed twice. The second time, however, the experiments sent calls or texts to around half of the participants' phones. This was to be able to test their focus.
It is also very important to mention that no instructions were given regarding their phones - none of the participants were told to keep their phones on silent or not to respond to them.
Throughout the study, those who picked up their phones were eliminated from the data collections results because the researchers were concerned with the individuals who kept ignoring their phones.
The results at the end showed that those who ignored their phones and attempt to not touch them had a poorer performance than the rest of the students. They were more distracted than the students with their phones on silent.
The researchers of the study wrote in their abstract,
Although these notifications are generally short in duration, they can prompt task-irrelevant thoughts, or mind wandering, which has been shown to damage task performance. We found that cellular phone notifications alone significantly disrupted performance on an attention-demanding task, even when participants did not directly interact with a mobile device during the task. The magnitude of observed distraction effects was comparable in magnitude to those seen when users actively used a mobile phone, either for voice calls or text messaging.
This study has spread virally over the web for its significance and impact in today's world. Generation Y members will often relate to this article for how their phone notifications distract them during attention-required activities. This is an issue that will soon be highlighted in terms of health care and governments will work on finding solutions to this problem. I have struggled with this during my studies and found that the solution is to place it on silent and remove it from my sight.
So as phones are becoming more and more popular in today's world, it seems that it may become increasingly challenging for individuals to put their phones away and concentrate on an activity. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan. Written by Panugothu Pavan.
Abdullah Ghali
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9100993
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