Is Your Smartphone Damaging Your Game?

Research Suggests Smartphones Cause Powerful 'Mental fatigue'

In a stunning  piece of research just 30 minutes of smartphone use has a significant impact on elite football players.

The study was published in the esteemed journal, Psychology of Sport and Exercise - published by Elsevier.

The research focussed on the impact of smartphone use by players directly before a football game (soccer for our North American readers) and was carried out in Brazil - a country that knows a thing or two about footy (as we call it in the UK).

In a very well designed randomised condition design study it was clear that just a short time on the smartphone had a significantly detrimental impact on passing decision making.

The scientists behind the study concluded that exposure to the smartphone created a powerful 'mental fatigue' that impacted thinking processes and the ability to convert intention to physical action.

Of course this study is on the sport of football so one could ask does this phenomenon transfer into golf? 

As a neuroscientist I would hypothesise that golf has a significantly higher level of mental demand than football so the impact may be much higher- particularly for players who regularly consult their phones during the round itself.

The study does not say how long it is after the phone use before this effect diminishes but I for one will now be refraining from using mine as much as possible until AFTER I come off the 18th green.

Perhaps those 'Old fashioned' golf clubs that are resisting the use of smartphones aren't so daft after all

Stephen Smith

The Fairway Physician

info@psyenz.org

+44 (0)7806 794 527


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