欢迎收听《英语在路上》，我是Jessica。
A Warning From Science
You think your phone will relieve your boredom, but science shows it’s more likely to increase it.
When you're bored of some mind-numbing task, what do you do? If you're like many, the answer is a no brainer: You reach for your phone. Five minutes of Facebook or kitten pictures can seem like the perfect break. If that sounds familiar, a new unpublished study has bad news. Reaching for your phone is likely to leave you feeling more bored.
The boredom machine
The problem isn't taking a break. Previous studies show that we get more done overall if we take regular, short breaks. The problem is your phone. Dutch research shows most of us carry around a boredom-boosting machine in our pockets.
To figure out the relationship between phones and boredom, a Dutch research team installed an app on the phones of 83 volunteers to track how often they used their devices. They also asked these volunteers to keep diaries for three days, recording their level of fatigue and boredom every hour.
The researchers' first discovery was no shocker. “Phone breaks were frequent: In the 20 minutes following each questionnaire, participants picked up their phones 52 percent of the time. They spent an average of around 90 seconds on it each time,” reports the findings on the British Psychological Society Research Digest blog.
Equally unsurprising was the second finding: The more tired we are, the more likely we are to reach for our phones. The real kicker was the final finding. While we look to our phones to relieve fatigue and boredom, screen time seemed to modestly increase feelings of boredom.“Participants actually reported higher levels of boredom after having used their smartphones,” notes BPS.
Take a better break
The research team speculated why this might be so. Switching from work to your phone and back may end up being more mentally tiring than stimulating. In other words, that baby goat video was nice, but not worth the cost to your brain in effort and concentration. Alternately, picking up your phone might serve as a reminder of all the things out there you could be doing if you didn't have to fill out paperwork.
This one study can't definitively say if either of these explanations is right, but the takeaway is clear. You think a glance at your phone is going to make you feel less bored, but it's actually going to make your brain feel more fried.
What should you do instead?
● Take a walk
● Doodle or draw
● Call someone. Connection is the best mood booster out there
● Read a book
提升英语听力，关注《英语在路上》，让耳朵与你同行。
译文：
来自科学的“警告”
依靠手机解闷，小心适得其反
当你厌倦某个乏味至极的工作时，会做些什么？如果你和多数人一样，那么答案连想都不用想了：你会伸手去拿手机。花五分钟看看脸书或猫咪的照片，似乎是再完美不过的休息了。
如果这听来熟悉，那么有一项尚未发表的研究报告带來了坏消息。伸手拿手机的后果可能会让你感到更加无聊。
无聊制造机
问题不在于休息。之前的研究显示，如果我们有规律、短暂的休息，整体而言可以做完更多工作。问题在于手机。根据荷兰的研究，我们大部分人的口袋里都随身携带了一个強化无聊感的机器。
荷兰研究团队为了找出手机和无聊感之间的关系， 在八十三位自愿受试者的手机上安裝了一个应用程序以便追踪他们有多常使用手机。团队还要求这些自愿受试者连写三天日记，记录下自己每小时的疲劳及无聊程度。
研究人员的初始发现并不令人惊讶。 他们在英国心理协会研究摘要博客里的结果报告显示：“受试者休息时看手机的频率很高：每一份问卷填完后的二十分钟內，受试者百分之五十二的时间会拿起手机；每次平均的使用时间大概是九十秒。”
同样不令人讶异的是第二个研究结果：我们愈疲累，愈可能伸手拿手机。而真正令人惊讶的是最后一个研究发现：尽管我们期待手机能緩解疲倦与无聊感受，但花在荧幕使用上的时间却反而似乎微幅增加了我们的无聊感。
英国心理学会指出：“参与受试者在使用智慧型手机后，实际上汇报的无聊程度反而比较高。”
更好的休息
研究团队对此做出推测， 在手机和工作之间来回转换，最后可能会导致心智上更加疲倦而不是激发出灵感。换季话说，那个山羊宝宝的视频是不错，不过并不值得你花气力以及专注力，而损耗了大脑。另外，拿起手机很可能也是种提醒，会让自己想到如果不必填写这些资料的話，可以在別的地方从事更加多姿多彩的事。
这项单一研究无法明确指出上述解释是否正确，不过，其中的主要信息倒是很清楚。我们认为看一下手机会让自己感觉没那么不无聊，但事实上却让脑力耗竭，疲惫更甚。
你应该做什么呢？
◆ 散散步
◆ 涂鸦或画画
◆ 打电话給某人；与人联结是提振心情的最好方式
◆ 看看书
用户评论