The Impact of Enhancing Phone Activeness on the Negative Effect Induced by the Presence of a Cell Phone

Abstract

In the information-driven workplace, cell phones have gradually become irreplaceable. Although the use of work-related cell phones can bring convenience, recent research has demonstrated that the presence of a cell phone can impair cognitive task performance by reducing available attentional resources and suggested that the effect of the phone’s presence can be influenced by phone-related factors. This study focused on the relationship between this effect and phone activeness and conducted two experiments to investigate whether increasing phone activeness is associated with a stronger effect from the phone’s presence by using a dual-task paradigm (primary: letter recognition task, secondary: luminance-change detection task). Phone activeness was manipulated by two potential factors: the phone’s power state (control, powered-off, powered-on) and physical contact state (the phone was placed on the desk or held in the hand). The results showed that secondary task performance decreased with the phone’s presence, regardless of its power state and contact state. This indicated that the presence of the phone only affects the available attentional resources devoted to the peripheral visual field where the secondary task stimuli occurred; however, the effect of the phone’s presence was not moderated by phone activeness. The current findings provided several extended understandings related to the negative effects caused by the presence of the cell phone and their underlying mechanisms.

Is Having Your Cell Phone the Key to Happiness, or Does It Really Matter?: Evidence From a Randomized Double-blind Study

“…Further, the individual's circumstances may be an important factor for predict their responses to cell phone removal [2]. If an individual is engaged in a task that requires signi cant attention, the removal of their cell phone might increase happiness because of improved focus and e ciency.…”

“…In daily life, most people are constantly besieged by the distraction of checking their cell phone [1]. Studies have shown that the mere presence of a cell phone, regardless of whether it is on or the individual has physical contact with it, may serve as a distraction [2]. Given the prevalence of cell phone use, researchers have begun to investigate the impact of cell phone possession and removal on affect.…”

The effect of mere presence of smartphone on cognitive functions: A four-level meta-analysis.

“…Smartphones had to be visually present in the smartphone presence condition. Upon further examination of the 786 potentially eligible records, 29 records (contributing 33 unique studies with 53 samples) met all inclusion criteria, 1 of which 19 were journal articles (Boila et al, 2020;Canale et al, 2019;Hartmann et al, 2020;Ito & Kawahara, 2017;Johannes et al, 2018Johannes et al, , 2019Kaminske et al, 2022;Koessmeier & Büttner, 2022;Linares & Sellier, 2021;Liu, Dempo, Kimura, et al, 2022;Liu, Dempo, & Shinohara, 2022;Nakagawa et al, 2022;Niu et al, 2022;Pellowe et al, 2015;Ruiz Pardo & Minda, 2022;Skowronek et al, 2023;Tanil & Yong, 2020;Thornton et al, 2014;, nine were unpublished theses or dissertations (Aguila, 2019;Bailey, 2018;Beijer, 2020;Bianchi Bosch, 2018;de Werd, 2020;Ruiz Pardo, 2022;Stahl, 2018;Stone, 2020;Tarantino, 2019), and one was a conference poster (Lyngs, 2017).…”

“…All eligible records were made available from 2014 to 2023 across 12 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States) in four continents (Australia, Asia, Europe, North America), with 30.30% of studies being conducted in the United States. It is noteworthy that 24 records employed a between-subject research design (Aguila, 2019;Bailey, 2018;Beijer, 2020, Boila et al, 2020Canale et al, 2019;de Werd, 2020;Hartmann et al, 2020;Ito & Kawahara, 2017;Johannes et al, 2018Johannes et al, , 2019Koessmeier & Büttner, 2022;Linares & Sellier, 2021;Lyngs, 2017;Niu et al, 2022;Pellowe et al, 2015;Ruiz Pardo, 2022;Ruiz Pardo & Minda, 2022;Skowronek et al, 2023;Stahl, 2018;Stone, 2020;Tanil & Yong, 2020;Tarantino, 2019;Thornton et al, 2014;, while only five records (Bianchi Bosch, 2018;Kaminske et al, 2022;Liu, Dempo, Kimura, et al, 2022;Liu, Dempo, & Shinohara, 2022;Nakagawa et al, 2022) employed a within-subject research design. The total sample size was 5,866 unique individuals (Mdn = 91, range = 25-520).…”

Is having your cell phone the key to happiness, or does it really matter? Evidence from a randomized double-blind study

“…People find themselves constantly distracted by the urge to check their cell phone [ 1 ]. Studies reveal that the mere presence of a cell phone can be distracting, regardless of its active use or physical interaction with the user [ 2 ]. Given the prevalence of cell phones, researchers are increasingly exploring how both the presence and absence of cell phones influence emotional well-being.…”