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Does using your phone while studying hurt your focus?

Short answer: Probably, though the research is mixed. Studies of heavy media multitaskers often find worse attention and memory, but later replications and reviews found the links to be weaker or inconsistent, partly because studies measure multitasking in different ways. A cautious conclusion is that frequent switching is not good for focus, and keeping your phone away during hard work is a low-cost experiment.[1][2]

By Seth Richardson, Founder of ProcrastiGauge · Last reviewed 11 October 2026 · Based on published research (sources below)

Key facts

  • Early study (2009): heavy multitaskers more distractible
  • Later review (2018): worse on simple memory tasks, but conclusions called premature
  • Overall: mixed evidence, depending on how multitasking is measured

The details

The most-cited early study found that heavy media multitaskers were more distracted by irrelevant information and slower to switch tasks. A review about ten years later found that heavy multitaskers tended to do worse on simple memory tasks, but the authors said it was premature to judge the impact. Other studies did not find the same associations.

Because it costs nothing, a good plan is to put your phone in another room for your next focus block and compare how you feel.

Limits of the evidence. These are mostly correlations, so they cannot show that multitasking causes poorer attention. The reviews could not say whether heavy multitaskers were already more distractible.
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Related questions

Sources

  1. Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. D. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2009/08/multitask-research-study-082409Link is Stanford University's news summary of the study.
  2. Uncapher, M. R., & Wagner, A. D. (2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(40). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6176627Review of about ten years of research; the authors call it premature to draw firm conclusions about impact.