June 1, 2018
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Put Down Your Phone
It can be hard to concentrate when you’re always being diverted by your phone. It’s a pattern that creates something called the switch cost. Constant interruptions can create a different chemistry in the brain. When there’s an interruption we switch away from the task that we were doing and then we have to come back, interrupting brain efficiency by about 40 percent. Our nose is always getting off the grindstone, then we have to reorient ourselves.
Technology has put the brain on high alert most of the time, waiting for the next notification. Doctors say when it happens, people can get little surges of the stress hormone cortisol, which can cause the heart rate to jump, some people to get sweaty hands and muscles can get a little tight. Being unable to check phones immediately can cause those feelings of anxiety to last until people are able to check their device. Doctors say breaking that pattern involves creating a new habit, which can take time.
Initially, when you start trying to stay away from the technology, or confine it, you’ll be a little uncomfortable, you’ll have that fear of missing out, or a little anxiety that something is getting past you, but with practice, your brain can get used to it. Breaking the habit is also difficult because experts there can be an addictive component to technology as the brain gets rewarded with constant updates and the behavior is repeated over and over.
