SmartPHone witHin reacH reduces brain Power

NEW YORK: Having a smartphone within sight or within easy reach, even if it is switched off, can reduce your ability to focus and perform tasks because part of the brain is actively working to not pick up or use the phone, shows an interesting research. “We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants’ available cognitive capacity decreases,” said Adrian Ward, Assistant Professor at McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin in the US. “Your conscious mind isn’t thinking about your smartphone, but that process, the process of requiring yourself to not think about something, uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It’s a brain drain,” Ward explained. The researchers conducted experiments with nearly 800 smartphone users in an attempt to measure how well people can complete tasks when they have their smartphones nearby.