It’s a vicious circle. The more useful our phones become, the more we use them. The more we use them, the more we lay neural pathways in our brains that lead to pick up our phones for whatever task is at hand – and the more we feel an urge to check our phone even when we don’t have to. 

这形成了一个恶性循环。手机越有用，我们就用得越多。我们用得越多，大脑中的神经通路就会越多，这些神经通路会导致我们不管手头上有什么事要处理，都会拿起手机。并且我们也会更想看手机，即使没有必要。

What we do know is that the simple distraction of checking a phone or seeing a notification can have negative consequences. This isn’t very surprising; we know that, in general, multitasking impairs memory and performance. One of the most dangerous examples is phone use while driving. One study found that merely speaking on the phone, not texting, was enough to make drivers slower to react on the road. It’s true for everyday tasks that are less high-stakes, too. Simply hearing a notification “ding” made participants of another study perform far worse on a task – almost as badly as participants who were speaking or texting on the phone during the task.

我们所知道的是，查看手机或查看通知等简单的分心行为可能会产生负面影响。这并不奇怪；我们知道，一般来说，一心多用会损害记忆力，让表现变差。最危险的例子之一是开车时使用手机。一项研究发现，仅仅是打电话，而不是发短信，就足以让司机在路上反应更慢。对于那些风险没这么高的日常任务来说也是如此。在另一项研究中，仅仅是听到通知的提示音“叮”，就会让参与者在任务中表现得更差——几乎和在任务中打电话或发短信的参与者表现得一样糟糕。

It isn’t just the use of a phone that has consequences – its mere presence can affect the way we think.

不仅仅是使用手机会对我们产生影响，仅仅是手机的存在就会影响我们的思维方式。

In one recent study, for example, researchers asked participants to either put their phones next to them so they were visible (like on a desk), nearby and out of sight (like in a bag or pocket), or in another room. Participants then completed a series of tasks to test their abilities to process and remember information, their problem-solving, and their focus.

例如，在最近的一项研究中，研究人员要求参与者要么把手机放在身边，比如放在桌子上这种看得见手机的地方，或者放在包里或口袋里这种看不到手机的地方，要么把手机放在另一个房间里。然后参与者完成一系列任务来测试他们处理和记忆信息的能力、解决问题的能力和注意力。

They were found to perform far better when their phones were in another room instead of nearby – whether visible, powered on or not. That held true even though most of the participants claimed not to be consciously thinking about their devices.

研究发现，当他们的手机在另一个房间而不是在附近时，无论是否能看得见手机、手机是否开机，他们的表现都要好得多。尽管大多数参与者声称自己并没有有意识地去想他们的手机，但这一结果仍然成立。

The mere proximity of a phone, it seems, contributes to “brain drain”. Our brains may be subconsciously hard at work in inhibiting the desire to check our phones, or constantly monitoring the environment to see if we should check our phone (eg, waiting for a notification). Either way, this diverted attention can make doing anything else more difficult. The only “fix”, the researchers found, was putting the device in a different room entirely.

仅仅是靠近手机似乎就会导致“脑力损耗”。我们的大脑可能在潜意识里努力抑制查看手机的欲望，或者始终留心着我们是否应该查看手机（比方说等待出现通知）。不管怎样，分心会让你做其他事情变得更困难。研究人员发现，唯一的“解决办法”是把手机完全放在另一个房间。

scroll  v. 上下滚动，滚屏 n. 卷轴

neural   adj. 神经的，神经系统的

pathway  n. 路径；神经通路

distraction n. 分散注意力的事；娱乐

notification n. 通知，通告

multitasking n. 同时执行多项任务

impair v. 损害，削弱

high-stakes adj. 高风险的

presence n. 存在，在场，出席

proximity n. 接近，靠近

subconsciously adv. 下意识地

divert v. 转移注意力；使转向；改变用途

in total 总共，总计

suck sb. into sth. 把某人卷入（某事）

vicious circle 恶性循环

out of sight 在视野外，看不见

hold true 适用，有效

contribute to 是……的原因，有助于

brain drain （国家的）人才流失，智囊枯竭