First of all, with the caveat that, as is so common with psych studies, this was performed on undergraduates only. There is no reason to assume that this would necessarily extend to a 30-year-old mother, a 40-year business executive, etc. (To the contrary, one could also imagine that having their phone on them increased their capacity to think about other things, with the peace of mind that they can get things done efficiently.)
But secondly, the headline to the paper "reduces available cognitive capacity", while written to sound bad, isn't obviously bad at all.
Your overall cognitive capacity isn't reduced -- it's just some is being taken up by thinking about your phone. One hypothesis could be that if you're able to be reached, then you spend time worrying about the things people will be reaching you for -- if you've sent that e-mail, if you've finished that report, if you've decided whether or not to go to that event.
That these are things you have to figure out or do anyways, and if you're not worrying about them now, you'll still have to later. Yes, removing the smartphone lets you relax for now, but that's just temporary. Otherwise it might be happening later over dinner instead.
What would be more interesting would be to find variance in the data -- which participants had reduced cognitive capacity and which didn't -- and then correlate that with other reported differences, such as their stress levels, to-do's, obligations, etc.
I'm quite sure the answer isn't as simple as "smartphones make us dumb", but closer to the truth that in being instantly connected to other people, that's something our brain is busy managing. But you know what? That may very well be a net benefit -- that being connected allows us to achieve our goals better, more, faster. That the cognitive capcity it's using is a good use.
Well, obviously yes if you're a cynic and think our goal is to destroy the planet, then that. But that seems... extreme.
Conversely, if you're optimistic, then you might imagine that all the people trying to save the planet are using the coordination and information that cellphones enable to gain more influence and achieve that.
Five hundred years ago, I'm sure people made the same arguments about books -- that they kept our concentration from the immediate present, and could be used to achieve bad things. I'm pretty sure books turned out to be a net positive. I feel the same way about cell phones.
But secondly, the headline to the paper "reduces available cognitive capacity", while written to sound bad, isn't obviously bad at all.
Your overall cognitive capacity isn't reduced -- it's just some is being taken up by thinking about your phone. One hypothesis could be that if you're able to be reached, then you spend time worrying about the things people will be reaching you for -- if you've sent that e-mail, if you've finished that report, if you've decided whether or not to go to that event.
That these are things you have to figure out or do anyways, and if you're not worrying about them now, you'll still have to later. Yes, removing the smartphone lets you relax for now, but that's just temporary. Otherwise it might be happening later over dinner instead.
What would be more interesting would be to find variance in the data -- which participants had reduced cognitive capacity and which didn't -- and then correlate that with other reported differences, such as their stress levels, to-do's, obligations, etc.
I'm quite sure the answer isn't as simple as "smartphones make us dumb", but closer to the truth that in being instantly connected to other people, that's something our brain is busy managing. But you know what? That may very well be a net benefit -- that being connected allows us to achieve our goals better, more, faster. That the cognitive capcity it's using is a good use.