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Phones ruining our attentiveness, says study

Technically Incorrect: A new survey reveals that the Apocalypse may be upon us. Or, at least, the Aphoneocalypse. It found that one in 10 people say they check their phones during sex.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


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Please don't tell you me you play games during sex, too.

Sean Hollister/CNET

You can talk freely here.

You can share your deepest secrets and your most troubling traits.

So please lie down on Technically Incorrect's brand new purple chaise-longue and tell us: If you're having sex and the phone rings, do you answer it?

How about when a text comes through or a tweet pings? How about when that nagging voice in your head merely says: I need to check my phone.

These questions are important because of new research from the University of Virginia and the University of British Columbia.

It notes the increasing amount of research that shows people can't do without their phones. It highlights the proliferation of notifications that now plague our lives like locusts of loquaciousness.

How deeply are they plaguing us? Why, one in 10 people admit they check their phones during sex.

An important element of this is the word "admit." How many more might be too ashamed to admit it?

This study focused on the damage phones may be doing to our attentiveness and general well-being.

The researchers asked 221 students at the University of British Columbia to keep their notification alerts on, thereby making sure the maximum number of interruptions would occur.

They then asked the students to note their feelings of hyperactivity and lack of attention.

It will surely not be a surprise that the more alerts pinged, the more the students' nerve-endings were dinged.

"Smartphones may contribute to these symptoms by serving as a quick and easy source of distraction," lead researcher Kostadin Kushlev said in a statement.

This in science is known as the You Don't Say Syndrome.

We are captives. We find it hard to let go of our phones, even during romantic dinners. Some restaurants even bribe diners to put away their phones.

Does this mean that phones are a direct cause of ADHD? Can shutting down your notifications reduce the symptoms of ADHD?

"The findings simply suggest that our constant digital stimulation may be contributing to an increasingly problematic deficit of attention in modern society," Kushlev said.

Wait, what did he say again?