Your phone steals focus – even when you don't touch it

You put your phone face down on the desk. Sound off. You're not going to touch it. So now you can work undisturbed, right?

Not quite. It turns out your phone doesn't need to ping, buzz or even be switched on to steal a piece of your attention. It just needs to be there.

What happens in your brain

Your brain has a limited amount of working memory – the capacity you use to hold things in your head, reason and solve problems. Anything that requires you to not do something takes a share of that capacity.

Your phone may be the most tempting object you own. It's connected to your friends, your notifications, everything you're waiting for. When it's within reach, part of your brain is constantly working on not picking it up. You don't notice it as a thought. You notice it as things going a little slower.

What the research shows

A study from the University of Texas (Ward et al., Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2017) had participants take tests that measure working memory and problem solving. The only thing that differed between groups was where their own phone was: on the desk in front of them, in a pocket or bag, or in another room.

The result was clear. Those with the phone on the desk performed worst. Those with the phone in another room performed best. Pocket landed in between. And it made no difference whether the phone was switched off or face down – its mere presence was enough.

The most interesting part: the participants didn't feel that the phone was distracting them. They thought they were just as focused as usual. The effect was measurable in the tests, but invisible to the person sitting there.

The researchers called it "brain drain". The more dependent a person was on their phone, the bigger the gap.

What to do

The solution isn't discipline. It's distance.

1. Put your phone in another room when you need to focus. Not in your pocket, not in the bag under the desk. Another room. It sounds drastic, but that's what produced the best results in the study.
2. If that's not possible – put it out of sight. A drawer, a bag, a jacket on the hook. Worse than another room, but better than the desk.
3. Decide in advance when you're allowed to check. After the task, at the next break. Once your brain knows there's a time for it, it stops standing guard.
4. Start with one session a day. The task that demands the most of you. That's where distance makes the biggest difference.

Make it a habit

The hard part isn't putting the phone away. It's remembering to. Tie it to something you already do: "when I open my laptop, my phone goes to the hallway".

Log your focus sessions in the app so you can see how many you've built up. After a week or so you'll probably notice it has become easier to think longer thoughts. Not because you got smarter – but because your brain finally has its full capacity back.