Dr. Faye Begetti

And as a result, we have increased the number of situations that we check our phone.

Now brain is really an association machine.

So for example, if you never, there'll be listeners here, if you never check your phone at the dinner table,

then you don't have that habit and you feel no urge to check it.

But there will be other people, and they are actually a minority, that will check their phone when they're out to dinner with somebody.

And that has essentially become a habit.

We have also somewhat normalized this in society, that we expect people to be available all the time.

And this online vigilance that you talk about, this thing of someone may have contacted me, someone, you know, there may be some things for me to do or to know about, this is called online vigilance.

Because you are always, you are in your physical world, but you're always monitoring your digital world.

That can have an impact on your brain.

I'm not surprised by the results of that study.

And there was a similar study like that that showed that some people find it more difficult to concentrate when their phone is next to their desk and it impacts their ability to do complex puzzles when they place their phone on their desk, even though it's face down and even though they don't receive any notifications.

And that effect is ameliorated if they put their phone in a bag or out of sight in a different room.

And the people it affects the most are those people that have this online vigilance, that are constantly monitoring their phone and what might happen.

Thank you for having me, Mike.

It's been a really insightful conversation.