Psychologists and neuroscience researchers say the human brain's capacity to focus has not been permanently damaged by smartphone and social media use, but recovering it requires deliberate effort — specifically, allowing the brain to rest and being intentional about how attention is directed, according to several attention researchers interviewed for this report.
Attention researchers offer strategies for rebuilding focus in the age of smartphones
Psychologists and neuroscience researchers say the human brain's capacity to focus has not been permanently damaged by smartphone and social media use, but recovering it requires deliberate effort — specifically, allowing the brain to rest and being intentional about how attention is directed, according to several attention researchers interviewed for this report.
The human brain processes one thing at a time, according to the article, and switching between tasks — what is commonly called multitasking — drains cognitive resources and makes it harder to pay attention in the future. When the brain's prefrontal cortex, which handles executive function, is fatigued, blood flow to that region decreases.
Attention restoration theory (ART), first developed in the 1980s by University of Michigan psychology professors Stephen and Rachel Kaplan, holds that time spent in nature restores directed attention by engaging involuntary attention and allowing cognitive resources to recover. Marc Berman, a former student of Stephen Kaplan and now a professor at the University of Chicago, distinguishes between 'soft fascinations' — natural stimuli such as waterfalls or swaying tree branches that hold attention without consuming it — and 'hard fascinations' such as Times Square or social media feeds, which capture attention so fully that recovery is slow.
In one study Berman conducted with his team, including Kaplan, research subjects were given difficult attention and memory tasks, sent on a walk in either a nature setting or an urban environment, and then retested. Participants who walked in nature improved their performance by about 20 percent, Berman said, and the improvement held regardless of whether participants reported enjoying the walk.
A study published in 2017 found that even having a phone within sight can reduce cognitive capacity and affect the ability to concentrate, according to the article.
- The source does not state the sample size or full methodology of the Berman nature-walk study.
- The source does not identify the journal or authors of the 2017 study on phone proximity and cognitive capacity beyond a link reference.
- The source does not state whether the attention restoration theory has been replicated across diverse populations or settings beyond the studies cited.
- The source does not state Berman's specific fractal theory has been peer-reviewed or experimentally confirmed as the mechanism for nature's restorative effect.
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