Smartphones make traveling so much easier ... most of the time. But research shows too much of it can actually make your trip seem worse than it really is.
Andrew Lepp, Ph.D., a professor at who studies the impact of mobile phones and social media on behavior, recently talked to Vox about how “.”
“The question then is: Do they enhance our leisure or do they distract from it?” Lepp told Vox. “It can do both, but if we’re not careful, it can diminish our experience of leisure.”
According to the , once you unlock your phone, it is easy to get sucked in.
“A lot of what we do on the phone is relatively simple,” Lepp told Vox. “Scrolling through social media is probably one of the most time-consuming things a person does on the phone, and it doesn’t take any effort at all, so we get bored quickly.”
Because of this, smartphones can actually decrease our positive emotions.
“When you think about activities that really make you feel good, like a deep sense of enjoyment, that really absorb your attention, those are activities that are challenging, that require a little bit of skill,” Lepp said.
Our phones become problematic when they take our attention away. So, instead of posting your next Instagram photo or answering your work emails, live your life in the present.
Lepp is one of 29 Kent State faculty members who are in the top 2% of scientists in the world, according to .
Image by Pedrokas from Pixabay