F·02
Focus & Deep Work
The Phone Doesn't Have to Buzz
A smartphone within reach reduces available working memory even when it is face-down, silent and switched off.
- Evidence
- solid
- Topic
- Focus
- Things to do
- 3
- Read
- 1 min
solidHow strong is the evidence?
Good evidence behind it, but fewer people have checked it independently.
- Ward, Duke, Gneezy & Bos, J. Assoc. Consumer Research, 2017 — “Brain Drain”, n = 800
Why it works
Not attending to a salient object is itself an act of attention. The cost is paid whether or not it interrupts you.
What to do about it
- Another room. Not a drawer, not your bag, not face-down — another room.
- Effect was strongest in the people most attached to their phones, who are also the ones most confident it doesn't affect them.
- For one deep block a day, make it physically unreachable without standing up.
Where people go wrong
“I have notifications off.” The study turned them off too. Presence was enough.
Where this fits in your day
Every morning
Name the one thing. Give it the first 90 minutes, phone in another room.
Read next
- Attention ResiduePart of your attention stays on the previous task — unless you left it with a written plan for resuming.solid
- Give the Peak to the Hard ThingAnalytic performance peaks in the first hours after waking for most people; protect that window, and spend the trough on admin.solid
- Brief Deactivation Restores AttentionVigilance decays over a long task. Short, complete breaks restore it; “breaks” spent on a screen do not.solid
- Work Expands to Fill the TimeGive a task a deadline and a fixed box, or it will consume everything available and finish no better.solid