Is My Phone ‘Damaging’ My Work?

Smartphones. How helpful and how damaging are they? There are numerous angles to choose to discuss about this topic but I want to concentrate on the effect they have on work performance. On this day and age we have turned into very work-focused beings, so let’s see how our much-needed devices affect our work.

Studies have shown that workplace productivity has decreased on a major scale from before the economic crisis of 2008. There exists a correlation where global productivity shows decline while international smartphone shipments have increased. However, this correlation does necessarily mean causation, therefore not precisely proving that increased smartphone usage has led to decreased workplace productivity. There are two ways that these digital distractions may cause a decrease in productivity.

Firstly, studies suggest that the excessive use of social media, communication media, etc. might be a factor decreasing our IQ (a process that takes decades and shows its effects one generation after the other). This effect in intelligence will thereof alter work quality. Moreover, because it takes the human brain roughly 25-30 minutes to re-focus once it has been distracted, it is safe to say that performance is negatively influenced by the use of smartphones during our working hours.

Secondly, numerous studies have shown that the more someone has interruptions during work, the more likely they are to ‘inflict’ interruptions in the future. As a result of these findings, ‘deep work concentration' in one particular task is encouraged far more than multitasking (such as sending/reading emails while working on another task) which has shown to be far more distracting.

In her 2017 research named “Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions and self-reported productivity”, Éilish Duke found that the use of smartphones decreases productivity both in home and work environments. Productivity involves “a state in which we are fully absorbed by an activity, forgetting about space and time, whilst being very productive” (Duke, 2017), thus creating a flow in your work; if this process (flow) is broken by, such as in our case, smartphones, then productivity is negatively affected. When in work flow, we no longer comprehend the concept of time and space, which makes it easier to concentrate on the task at hand. According to Duke’s research, even concentration disruptions as short as 2.8 seconds have proven to affect someone by decreasing their productivity.

Except for the fact that by incoming messages, alerts, etc. smartphones are disruptive in work, it has also been found that we tend to check smartphones far too often, even when receiving no notifications whatsoever. Duke found that people tend to interrupt their work every 18 minutes by looking around or checking their smartphones, even unnecessarily so. She said that people tend to check their smartphones much more often than they contemplate; this might be a result of unawareness or automatic behaviour. Through Duke’s research, she has found that people themselves feel they spend far too much time using smartphones than they feel is necessary or needed. This finding shows that human beings allow themselves to continue a destructive behaviour while being fully aware of its negative effects, and the fact that by distracting themselves they will submit a task of lower standards than usual.

Other studies have shown that people have developed an addiction to their smartphones; they strongly feel the need to have their smartphones with them at all times and constantly check them. This shows that this addiction has led us to develop a dependence on our smartphones. This is also one of the reasons why we tend to use our phones so often, during work hours too, being less productive than what we would usually be in the same situations if we would not have this digital device in our possession and easy reach. A 2013 study at FSU found that “probability of making an error increased by 28% after getting a phone call and 23% after getting a text.” (Zimmerman, 2017)

As a solution to this problem, the elimination of these digital devices is not the best way to go; they have far more pros than cons thus ‘forcing’ us to find other solutions. One of these other solutions would be the creation of a ‘distraction-free’ environment. Turning our smartphones off, leaving them far away from our working space, or designating strict and short time schedules for using or checking our phones are also solutions that would help us with maintaining concentration when doing a certain task, thereof ensuring that we do not become less productive during working hours. Keeping our devices out of sight is also a psychological element that ‘forbids’ our minds from using our phones. All these techniques ensure smart use of our time and the continuance of our work without disrupting or decreasing productivity.

I know we love the convenience that comes with our phones, and I do as well, BUT people did manage to survive for thousands of years without smart devices; I really believe we can manage to ‘detox’ ourselves from using them for a few hours a day, so let’s help ourselves whoever we can :)

‘Till next time…