- Jun 24, 2016
- 636
Smartphones make you less efficient at work, claims study:
SOURCE: timesofindia.indiatimes.com (ARTICLE DATE: 26th Aug 2016)
While smartphones help us stay in touch with colleagues, keep on top of our inbox, and complete urgent tasks on the move, they at the same time also make users less productive at work, claims a new psychological experiment by the Universities of Wurzburg and Nottingham Trent...
Researchers asked participants to perform a concentration test under four different circumstances: With their smartphone in their pocket, at their desk, locked in a drawer and removed from the room completely. The results are significant - test results were lowest when the smartphone was on the desk, but with every additional layer of distance between participants and their smartphones, test performance increased. Overall, test results were 26% higher when phones were removed from the room.
"Previous studies have shown that on the one hand, separation from one's smartphone has negative emotional effects, such as increased anxiety, but, on the other hand, studies have also demonstrated that one's smartphone may act as an distractor when present. In other words, both the absence and presence of a smartphone could impair concentration", says Jens Binder from the University of Nottingham Trent.
SOURCE: timesofindia.indiatimes.com (ARTICLE DATE: 26th Aug 2016)
While smartphones help us stay in touch with colleagues, keep on top of our inbox, and complete urgent tasks on the move, they at the same time also make users less productive at work, claims a new psychological experiment by the Universities of Wurzburg and Nottingham Trent...
[IMAGE: publicdomainpictures.net]
The study commissioned by security firm Kaspersky Lab unearthed a correlation between productivity levels and the distance between participants and their smartphone. When their smartphone was taken away, participant performance improved by 26%. The experiment tested the behavior of 95 persons between 19 and 56 years of age in laboratories at the universities of Wurzburg and Nottingham-Trent. Care was taken to balance experimental conditions and gender across laboratory sites.
Researchers asked participants to perform a concentration test under four different circumstances: With their smartphone in their pocket, at their desk, locked in a drawer and removed from the room completely. The results are significant - test results were lowest when the smartphone was on the desk, but with every additional layer of distance between participants and their smartphones, test performance increased. Overall, test results were 26% higher when phones were removed from the room.
"Previous studies have shown that on the one hand, separation from one's smartphone has negative emotional effects, such as increased anxiety, but, on the other hand, studies have also demonstrated that one's smartphone may act as an distractor when present. In other words, both the absence and presence of a smartphone could impair concentration", says Jens Binder from the University of Nottingham Trent.
[To read the full article please visit the link at the top of the page]
