It can ‘decrease people’s experience of transportation’
If you’re the sort of person who finds themselves reaching for their phone whilst watching films, listen up.
We’ve probably all been guilty of it to be honest. Whether it’s a thriller, comedy, drama or action movie, many of us can’t resist a few scrolls of social media only to then look back up and realise we’ve missed a key plot point.
Whilst you may have worked out that this means you’ve got a bit of a crap attention span, research suggests it could be a sign of other negatives.
A study titled ‘Do You Enjoy TV, while Tweeting?‘ looked at the “effects of multitasking” with regards to viewing habits.
Researchers found that checking social media while watching TV “impairs emotional responses” and “decreases people’s experience of transportation.” By reducing the emotional response to the show or film, this decreases the viewers enjoyment.
There’s more though, as multitasking with tech can have an impact on your brain.
Scientists who partnered with marketing agency HeyHuman found that when people switch between gadgets, the chemical L-dopa is released in the brain, which produces dopamine.
Flicking between gadgets is “worse than being stoned” according to the scientists, by “rewiring our brain” and “lowering IQ as a result.”
They added: “Our brains could, thanks to our reliance and overuse of technology, be heading for the scrap heap.”
But it’s not necessarily the amount of time on the phone that is the issue. What’s more important is how our brains are reacting to what we’re reading or viewing on our phone.
Michael Rich, a Center on Media and Child Health director at Boston Children’s Hospital explained: “Virtually all games and social media work on what’s called a variable reward system, which is exactly what you get when you go to Mohegan Sun and pull a lever on a slot machine.
“It balances the hope that you’re going to make it big with a little bit of frustration, and unlike the slot machine, a sense of skill needed to improve.”
The key for the future is going to be how we choose to use our devices.
Rich said: “We don’t want to be in a moral panic because kids are staring at smartphones.
“We need to be asking, what’s happening when they’re staring at their smartphone in terms of their cognitive, social, and emotional development?
“As with most things, it will probably be a mix of positive and negative.
“Going forward with our eyes open, how can we enhance the positive and mitigate the negative?”
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