How To Get Distracted From Your IPhone? - Research, Self-development

New research shows that our digital lives often make us unable to focus. We lose contact with others and feel powerless

For example, as one study shows, if a person even briefly uses the phone during a feast with friends, this is already enough to distract the meeting participants and reduce the pleasure they receive from communication.

“For people who were allowed to use their phones during the experiment, it was harder to be in the moment,” said Ryan Dwyer, MA at the University of British Columbia, lead author of a study on the impact of digital technology on relationships presented at the symposium.

“Decades of happiness research tell us that positively charged, engaged communication with others is absolutely essential for our psychological well-being. Modern technology is wonderful, but unfortunately it can easily distract us from the special moments we experience in person with friends and family.”

Dwyer and his colleagues conducted two studies - a field experiment in a restaurant and a survey. The restaurant experiment involved more than 300 adults and students from the University of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Participants who dined at the table were asked to either leave their phones on the table with the ringer or vibration on, or turn off the sound of the phones and leave them in a container on the table.

After lunch, participants filled out a questionnaire in which they were asked questions about their feelings of social connectedness, pleasure, distraction and boredom, as well as how much and how they used the phone during lunch.

The researchers found that those people whose phones were freely available to them during the experiment, not only used them more than those whose phones were lying on the side, but also more often reported that they felt more distracted and received less pleasure. from communication.

More than 120 participants from the University of Virginia participated in the survey. Participants were interviewed five times a day for a week. They were asked to report how they were feeling and what they had done in the last 15 minutes prior to the survey.

The results showed that people reported feeling more distracted during face-to-face interactions if they were using their smartphone at the time than if not. Students also said that they felt less pleasure in communication and interest in it if they were on the phone at that time.

“The survey results are especially important because they are talking about the negative effects of phone use among university students, who are usually referred to as digital natives,” said Elizabeth Dunn, Ph. D. from the University of British Columbia, co-author of the study, who presented the study at the symposium. "We initially assumed that this generation should be more adaptable to multitasking, the constant transition between being on the phone and interacting with others, but research has shown that even moderate phone use negates the benefits of engaged face-to-face communication."

Another study was presented at the session, which found that compassionate people spend less time on social media than those who are self-centered and prone to narcissism.

In addition, according to this study, people with lower emotional intelligence, or having trouble identifying, describing, and processing their emotions, use social media more often than those who are in contact with their feelings.

"People who are uncomfortable with their own and others' emotions feel comfortable online," says Sarah Konrath, Ph. D. from Indiana University. "We think they may prefer text-based interactions as it gives them more time to process social and emotional information."

This study builds on a previous study that found that more narcissistic people use social media more often than those with less narcissism. Konrath said there has been no research yet on how emotional intelligence relates to social media use.

She and her colleagues analyzed data from four studies involving more than 1200 adults. They used existing scales to assess narcissism, empathy, emotional intelligence, and emotion recognition. The studies also asked questions about how often participants check and post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The researchers found that more empathic people use Twitter less often than those who treat others with less care and compassion. In addition, people who are more likely to see the world from the point of view of another person do not spend as much time on Facebook and Instagram as those who do not. Another interesting finding is that people with a high level of recognition of the emotions of others use less Twitter and Facebook

Conversely, more narcissistic people and those for whom the emotional experience of others is problematic spend more time on all three social media sites.

“Does more emotional intelligence and empathy lead people to avoid social networks, or does lower empathy lead people to these networks? The opposite is also possible: frequent use of social media can reduce empathy and emotional intelligence, says Konrath. - Our research does not yet allow establishing a cause-and-effect relationship. More research is needed to better understand how digital technology affects people, making them better or worse."

Another study presented at the symposium showed that primary school children begin to better recognize the non-verbal cues of their peers after spending five days without a screen, and senior school participants experience more connection with their friends through face-to-face interactions compared to interactions in video and audio chats or messengers.

This study showed that despite their ability to connect us to others across the earth, phones can rob us of the benefits we derive from interacting with those with whom we sit at the same table. Why, then, has it become so common to use the telephone during social rituals? Our research has shown that when one person starts using the phone, the likelihood that others around them also go to the phone increases. This is an argument for the assumption that problem behavior becomes contagious in the social environment.

Sources:

• sciencedaily.com/releases/201808-08-1810161553.htm
• apps.apa.org/convsearch/article.aspx?id=5431&type=abstract&_ga=2.257814155.1606960360.1534258989-7238780.1533540206

Translated by Kiril Melamud