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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Comput. Sci.
Sec. Human-Media Interaction
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2025.1422244
When the Phone's Away, People Use Their Computer to Play Distance to the Smartphone Reduces Device Usage but not Overall Distraction and Task Fragmentation during Work
Provisionally accepted- 1 London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
- 2 London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, London, England, United Kingdom
The smartphone helps workers balance the demands of their professional and personal lives but can also be a distraction, affecting productivity, wellbeing, and work-life balance. Drawing from insights on the impact of physical environments on object engagement, this study examines how the distance between the smartphone and the user influences interactions in work contexts. Participants (N=22) engaged in two 5h knowledge work sessions on the computer, with the smartphone placed outside their immediate reach during one session. Results show that limited smartphone accessibility led to reduced smartphone use, but participants shifted non-work activities to the computer and the time they spent on work and leisure activities overall remained unchanged. These findings suggest that discussions on smartphone disruptiveness in work contexts should consider the specific activities performed, challenging narratives of 'smartphone addiction' and 'smartphone overuse' as the cause of increased disruptions and lowered work productivity.
Keywords: Workplace Interruptions, Work fragmentation, smartphone, productivity, distraction
Received: 02 May 2024; Accepted: 23 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Heitmayer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Maxi Heitmayer, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
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