Psychology of the unanswered notification: People who lose focus the second their phone buzzes aren't weak-willed; a 2015 study found that a notification you never even answer hurts attention as much as using the phone

You’re in the middle of something important. A report, a lecture, a conversation that really means something to you, and your phone buzzes once, gently, in your pocket. You don't even look at it, and yet you are already distracted.

If that sounds familiar, it’s not a lack of discipline. A 2015 study, ‘The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notification,’ published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, found that even receiving a notification can throw your attention off course, without any contact with your phone, and that the disruption is comparable to using the phone. That's why focus scatters at the slightest buzz, and it's less about willpower than you might think.