How bad is the mere presence of a phone? Replication and the extension of creativity in Przybylski and Weinstein (2013).

Linares C, Sellier AL (2021) How bad is the mere existence of a telephone? Replication of Przybylski and Weinstein (2013) and the extension of creativity. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0251451. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0251451

Commentary

This study investigated whether the presence of a cell phone affects the quality of interpersonal relationships.A 2013 article comparing cell phones and notebooks suggested that the presence of a cell phone alone could impair the quality of relationships between strangers. The two experiments describing the results of this study were designed to strictly replicate the findings of this article and to investigate whether the mere presence of a phone, whether at the group or individual level, could affect creativity.

It was done in two experiments (N= 356 participants, 136 groups) and followed the original procedure in the 2013 article. Groups of participants who had never met each other prior to the study had a conversation in the presence of either a smartphone or a notebook. Participants then performed a creative task in groups (Studies 1 and 2) or alone (Study 1).

In neither study were we able to replicate the original results on relationship quality, nor did we find any effect of the mere presence of the phone on creativity.

They concluded that it would be difficult to replicate the previously described decrease in relationship quality and creativity, and that the effect, if any, may be negligible.