March 28, 2025 – Productivity experts often say: Put your smartphone away when you're trying to focus. But surprising new research challenges this common advice, with findings that matter for your concentration and your health.
People in the study worked two five-hour days on their laptops from a video-recorded room. One day their phone was beside them, and the other it was five feet away. They were told to work as they normally would and use their phones as much as they wanted.
When their phone was near, people spent nearly twice as much time (14 more minutes per day) using it. They also reached for it almost three times as often.
But here's the key part: No matter where their phone was, people spent the same amount of time on work and leisure activities. When they couldn't grab their phone, they sought distraction on their laptop, using apps, reading the news, or shopping online.
"The call to social media and all the other addictive stuff is so strong that we just do it on the computer instead," said Maxi Heitmayer, PhD, the researcher at the London School of Economics who led the study, published today in Frontiers in Computer Science.
Heitmayer found the results somewhat surprising. Studies show that closeness to snacks can influence people's food intake and be used to encourage healthier eating. He thought a similar approach might work for phones, helping change people's attention habits.
But while putting the phone out of reach worked "fantastically well" at reducing smartphone use, "the problem is that when most people say, 'I want to use my smartphone less,' they don't mean 'I don't want to hold the physical device in my hand,' " Heitmayer said. They mean they want to reclaim their time and focus – which isn't what happens if you simply seek out other digital distractions instead.
At the end of each day, people in the study were asked to guess how much time they'd spent using their phone. They guessed "more or less the same number" whether their phone was accessible or not, despite using their phone much more when it was accessible.
This finding also tracks with Heitmayer's earlier research. He gave people wearable cameras to record their phone use throughout the day. Nine times out of 10, people in that study checked their phone because they felt the urge to, not because of notifications.
"They said, 'I don't want this to happen.' And because they saw the footage of themselves as well, they said, 'I don't even remember this happening,' " Heitmayer said.
Why We're So Digitally Distractable and How It Chips Away at Our Health
In 2004, researchers clocked the average attention span on a screen at two and a half minutes. Today, it's just 47 seconds, according to Gloria Mark, PhD, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity.
Social media algorithms reward us with likes, comments, or notifications, encouraging endless scrolling, social comparison, and fear of missing out.
"Objectively, technology is not neutral," Heitmayer said. "I've been doing this for 10 years. Not once has a participant told me, 'Oh, I've spent too much time on my calendar today,' or 'Google Maps is really killing me.' "
But addictive algorithms are just one part of the problem, said Mark. Feelings of fatigue or boredom can prompt us to seek reward through an online game or social media. Switching between tasks drains our limited mental energy, leading to stress and anxiety.
"We don't have the resources available to manage the demands of the environment," she said, "and that's the definition of stress."
How we use our phones can also affect our sleep, according to Lisa Keer, a national board-certified health and wellness coach at Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham. About 15% of her patients want coaching support for digital distraction, and many of those patients are struggling with sleep.
"It's that sense of, 'I just want to keep scrolling' or 'I need a little bit of time for myself,' " Keer said. "Next thing you know, 45 or 50 minutes have gone by, and instead of getting into bed at 10 o'clock, now all of a sudden it's 11 or 11:30."
Losing sleep can lead to other health challenges, she said. You might exercise less because you're too tired, or consume more caffeine or sugar for energy. Mindless scrolling can also lead to eating too much or too little because you're distracted.
Shortened attention spans can also have negative effects on mental health, especially for children and teens using social media, according to the American Psychological Association. But adults are not immune. People often tell Heitmayer, " 'I'm losing time, maybe not going to bed or not doing my work. And on top of that, I also beat myself up for failure. I've done it again.' "
If Stowing Your Phone Won't Help, What Will?
Heitmayer and other researchers – including an international group of scientists who yesterday reported on the failure of smartphone bans to improve mental and physical health among adolescents – are calling for tech education to help young people foster healthier digital habits.
Students are told how to avoid credit card scams, but not "how do you pick up your phone, look up something on Wikipedia, and then put it back down so that you can continue a task rather than ending up on TikTok?" Heitmayer said.
For teens and adults alike, a mindfulness approach can help, said Mark.
Whenever she feels the urge to switch to something "more fun" than working on her next book, she pauses and takes a beat. Being aware of our behavior as it unfolds is a skill we can develop, she said: "After a while, this skill becomes second nature."
This gives Mark a chance to reflect on what she needs, like rest or movement. She recommends "one long break" (at least 20 minutes) during the day to restore executive function, the part of the brain that filters out distractions. Getting outdoors is best, but meditation, writing poetry, reading something inspiring, or movement can also "restore your mind," she said.
Keer suggests cataloging your "internet spelunking" triggers as they occur. Maybe you were bored, tired, anxious, or avoiding a task before you started scrolling.
"A lot of times, we delve into the internet because it's something new and novel," she said. "Is there another way you could find a new experience? Is it doing a crossword puzzle? Is it calling a friend? Is it taking a walk? Is it having a glass of water? There are any number of ways you can interrupt the cycle."
Bringing friends and family into your efforts may help too. Researchers at Princeton University and the Strother School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn, New York, are calling for people to cultivate healthier "attention practices" together. It could mean putting phones on airplane mode, closing laptops for an hour, or making dinner together in spaces like schools, churches, or at home. Those practices can shape what the researchers call "attention sanctuaries."
However you decide to approach your digital life, said Heitmayer, "thinking on how we can be more literate and aware of these habits, to me, is the way forward."
