E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSBy Emily Main
Rodale.com
The next time you hear strains of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” emanating from a cell phone one cube over in your office, take note of how it affects your brain. Do you feel like your thought processes are temporarily on hold? According to a new study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, ringing cell phones are so distracting, they actually reduce our ability to remember information and slow our capacity to get back on task once the ringing stops.
THE DETAILS: Researchers broke their experiment down into a few different parts. In the first test, they had college students in a lab do computer exercises, for which they were asked to identify items that flashed across a screen as quickly as possible. During those tests, a cell phone would ring repeatedly, either with a standard ring, a generic tone, or a recognizable song (in this case, the university’s fight song). Each time the phone rang, researchers noticed that the students’ reaction times to the computer tests slowed down. However, students who heard the ring or the generic tone recovered more quickly and were less affected by subsequent cell phone interruptions than students who heard the university fight song.
Cellphone Radiation Is Possibly Carcinogenic
In the second experiment, one of the researchers sat in a classroom while a professor gave a lecture, at the end of which students were given a test. During the lecture, the researcher allowed her phone to ring for 30 seconds. A second group was tested as well but didn’t have the cell phone interruption. The test scores revealed that the first group scored 25 percent worse than the nonphone group on questions related to material presented while the phone was ringing.
WHAT IT MEANS: A cell phone ringing in the middle of your next meeting is more than just annoying. It could inhibit your and your coworkers’ ability to think or remember important information. “Cell phone rings do make you respond more slowly,” says lead author Jill Shelton, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the psychology department at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s a short-lived effect,” she adds. But tiny interruptions can add up, something anyone who’s sat through a long meeting with frequent cell phone interruptions will agree with.
Cellphones = Bone Loss? Possibly
Try not to tax anyone’s brainpower by following these ring-tone tips:
• Bid adieu to Beyoncé. At least on your phone. Familiar, popular tunes seem to command more attention. “Those song ring tones are particularly distracting to people,” says Shelton. “I hate to say that, because don’t we all love them? Maybe it’s because we can’t keep ourselves from wanting to listen.” If you can’t shut off the ringer, switch it to one of the boring, single-tone rings that came with the phone.
• Send out a warning signal. If you’re heading into a meeting and expecting a call that you don’t want to miss, let other people know that your phone might ring and interrupt your conversations. “People recover from distraction more quickly when they know it’s coming,” Shelton notes.
• Turn ringers off on the road. This is largely precautionary, as Shelton says that they’d have to conduct a separate study to see how much a ringing cell phone would affect your attention while driving. However, “in two different settings, our experiments showed people trying to pay attention to something in particular, and the sound of the cell phone ring disrupted their ability to do that successfully,” she says. A ringing phone wouldn’t distract you as much as a conversation while driving, she adds, but it could pose enough of a distraction to slow your reaction time at a critical moment.
What's the most annoying ringtone you've heard? Tell us on Facebook.
Related:
- Cellphones, wallets and other things we'd fish out of the toilet
- Why yuor barin can raed tihs
- When time is money, misery can follow
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
My phone is always on vibrate. I don't know why every other person's phone isn't. Honestly, when is your phone not on your person or at least within 10 feet of your person? Most phone calls aren't that important, as anyone from the cell-phone devoid era of the mid 1990's or earlier can attest. So if you miss a call because you notice your phone vibrating, you can just call that person back later when you have free time. It's not just a distraction to others, it's a distraction to yourself.
Mine too.
My wife keeps hers on vibrate all the time and I'm okay with it...now. The only downside is that when I need an answer from her ASAP, I have to call the *gasp* house phone to get her attention.
I would beg to differ on that one; since I run a support business, my phone calls are VERY important.
I hope that the group that did this study DID NOT get any public grant money. Their conclusions are so common sense that they could have phoned this study in.
Ever notice the way many people dismiss *EVERY* science story? It's always for one of two reasons:
1. If they didn't find the results surprising, they think the study was a waste of money because the conclusions were "common sense".
2. Or...if they DID find the results surprising they think the study was a waste of money because they don't believe the findings.
There are countless scientific studies that found that a "common sense" idea was completely wrong. The irony is that, when that happens, many people think the study was a waste of money because they don't believe the results. I guess LR Lucas just doesn't think that scientists should ever put a "common sense" idea to the test. We should just assume that Grandpa Bubba's common sense is always right?
I think that calls for a study to see how many people believe the results of a study compared to people who will continue to believe what they want to regardless of the results of a study.
I am actually curious and only half kidding. I think people, for the most part, have beliefs they hold on to like grim death no matter what. And once false information is rooted deep in their brain it's hard to dispell.
A recent case in point is the study that vaccinations do not lead to more cases of autism and that the doctor who originally proposed that it did found his conclusions on faulty information. Yet in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary there are millions of people who are putting their kids at risk because of an irrational fear of vaccinations.
That is an extreme example, and only one amoung many that could be considered.
Too true!
We totally agree. If people dont have common sense or common courtesy for that matter, they should not have technology in their hands in the first place. Too many people living in unawareness of their actions, ESPECIAILLY ON PUBLIC TRANSIT!!
common sense is not so common.
LR Lucas, you fail at science. Junicorn, thank you for explaining.
Actually, I think the way the media presents news stories of this nature does more to make them seem like common sense than they really are. After all, when you boil down a couple dozen to hundreds of pages worth of research down into three paragraphs you're likely to lose something in the translation.
I have tinnitus, and bells are always ringing in my head, and.....let's see, what were we talking about?
" “Those song ring tones are particularly distracting to people,” says Shelton. “I hate to say that, because don’t we all love them? " No, I don't love them. I find song ring tones to be annoying attention getters. When I hear one I usually think how idiotic it sounds.
That's still a distraction, isn't it?
Nothing was worse than some guy at my office who had the "Gimme Back That Filet-o-Fish" song, then would leave his phone unattended at his desk all day.
Drop his phone into his coffee cup.
I. Hate. Ringtones. I made my wife switch her phone to a normal ring, and mine is usually set to vibrate only.
I was talking to a co-worker a while back, in a very quiet office area, when suddenly comes this loud blast of heavy metal music. (And I mean LOUD). It was his phone! I told him later if I worked near him, his phone would have been hammered to dust long ago.
We also have VIOP phones at work, which unfortunately have ringtones. The absolute worst one is a voice that repeats "Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?". It raises my blood pressure just thinking about it.
I see no reason why a place like an office or a work environment like that couldn't put restrictions on cell phones and ringers. I worked for somebody that required everybody to have their cell phones either off or on vibrate only. It only makes sense...you don't want to be on a sensitive conference call when somebody's phone starts to belt out "Poker Face" or some annoying loud ring tone. It's highly unprofessional.
Our office has a rule about ringtones. Vibrate only. But every now and then, the boss' phone goes off. She's a sweetheart, so I don't care. But it is distracting for a moment.
What I hate too are the songs that play while the phone call is ringing through. "Please enjoy this song while you're waiting..." and it's some crap song that gets stuck in your head the rest of the day.
Ah yes, simple signs of a control-freak. The problem usually starts with small things like this, and often expand to "where are you? You're 15 minutes late!"
Quite obvious signs of OCD.
You really ought to seek help. But of course, you'll simply dismiss my comment with "it's exclusive to ring tones!" and whether or not that is true (most likely not, whether you even realize it), problems like these are most often noticed from a single source, and can get worse harming relationships and could even lead to emotional and later physical abuse (which was threatened to your co-worker, since violence also often starts on inanimate objects).
And yes, this is all quite evident "just" from your ring tone issue. Your marriage and personal/business relationships are at risk.
You have a major problem, but it's unfortunate that you'll likely disregard my message (and perhaps even insult me somehow, as is typical for this site, but maybe not now since I brought your attention to it).
boom!reason, thank you for showing me that not all the posters on this story are rational, thinking, polite people. Your disgusting regurgitation of smarminess, smugness and egotism is a glaring counterpoint to the rational, courteous conversations going on here.
It just goes to prove that people only need a minute fraction of the truth to be a complete arsehole on a discussion page.
I don't really find them all that distracting, and after a few times, we all know who's calling whom...
I have always wondered do some people just not know how to turn their phone on vibrate or silence? I see older peoples' phones ringing in meetings all the time and they seem to pull it out, stare at it in awe and then turn the phone off. Maybe people should read the manual, just sayin
The only ringtone I've ever had is "Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson............and I have NEVER heard a complaint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0bdLdTJdKI
Cool...which part of the song is your ringtone? (I would choose the intro)
The "Single Ladies" song is stupid, just read the idiotic lyrics, so no wonder it makes you stupid. Especially the person who has it as their ringtone.
One ringtone I had was the GEICO little piggie commercial going weeeeeee, wee, wee, weeeeeeee--I loved it I know everyone hated it which is why I had it!!!!
Researchers got it wrong. Just proved the already well-known fact that university fight songs make people stupid.
The nurses are required to carry our facility-owned cell phone and have it turned on when on duty-this is the primary way patients reach their assigned nurses. Even when we answer the call, it cycles back to us in 30 seconds until we manually turn off the call in the patient's room. I find the ringing dangerously distracting when I'm preparing or administering medications. I wish someone would perform a study on the incidence medication errors associated with cell-phone interruptions!
Put your phone on Silent. If we are in a meeting and I know your phone is on Vibrate, I keep calling you under the table and watch your phone dance it's way across the table, embarrassing the hell out of you in front of upper management.
I don't even want to be interrupted by MY OWN RINGTONE! Unless am expecting a call, I put it on silent. If it's important they will leave me a VM, if's not important why do they expect me to drop whatever am doing and pick up their calls? Some of the ringtones people put on are from hell, only THEY think it's cute.
99% of calls people think are important are BS. They take them and then set there and talk loud so everyone can here them. Take the GD thing outside. Nobody wants to hear that sh/t.
This whole "stupid" idea is stupid. It has been proven in past experiments that an interruption causes a lapse in our cognitive processes that can last up to 10 mins. Think about settling back to work after a co-worker sticks their head in your cube or worse, being a stay-at-home mom trying to maintain one coherent thought with a couple of toddlers around. They did not have to do this study, it's been done and if they were true scientists, could've extrapolated from prior data, since the hypothesis was already proven. And it was already done be psychologists. Money for nothin'.
Cell phone manners - or lack thereof - are the worst . . . ! We now have cell phones - with audible ringtones - at the dinner table, in restaurants, at the gym, while conducting a tour at the museum, in the supermarket, at the doctor's office, in the middle of a meeting, in the restroom, in the car, at the charity fundraiser, walking downtown or in the mall. And most of the conversatuons are totally inane. I just remembered why I do not have one. And do not bring yours into my house when you are invited for dinner . . . !
Cell phone manners - or lack thereof - are the worst . . . ! We now have cell phones - with audible ringtones - at the dinner table, in restaurants, at the gym, while conducting a tour at the museum, in the supermarket, at the doctor's office, in the middle of a meeting, in the restroom, in the car, at the charity fundraiser, walking downtown or in the mall. And most of the conversations are totally inane. I just remembered why I do not have one. And do not bring yours into my house when you are invited for dinner . . . !
Mine plays a musical ringtone - it sings a capella and in gaelic. I also don't notice it 99% of the time, unless I am doing absolutely nothing and in a quiet environment (aka, when I lay down to go to sleep). But I've conditioned myself to be impervious to distraction, as my working environment is a noisy one, and I need superior concentration at all times. Yes, I'm in IT.