Picture this: You’re sitting at your desk, finally getting to that task that you’ve been putting off for ages. You’ve even put your phone in your bag and out of sight. Finally, you feel focused. You’re in a flow. But every once in a while, you feel the need to peek into that bag and check your phone. Maybe someone is trying to contact you? Maybe there’s an emergency! Despite these thoughts, you resist the urge and keep working. Do you think you’re having a productive work session?

Think again.

We believe that putting our phone face-side down on our desk, or away in our bag, is enough to prevent us from being distracted. However, a landmark study by Ward and colleagues has found that the mere presence of your smartphone, even if it’s out of your visual field, can be a major distraction to your brain, a concept known as “brain drain."

Ward et al. tested the “brain drain” hypothesis on 548 college students at the University of Texas. In the experiment, the students were divided into 3 groups and asked to complete a set of cognitive performance tests. Group 1 had their phones facing down on their desk, Group 2 had their phones in their bag, and Group 3 had their phones outside the room. Guess which group performed the best? The group that was required to put their phones in another room scored significantly higher than Groups 1 (phones facing down) and 2 (phones in a bag in the room). In fact, Ward noticed that the farther away........

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