We read the research on what phones, feeds and AI do to attention, memory and learning, and report what it actually shows. Including when the answer is inconvenient.
Choose a topic to browse its research-led guides and articles.
What phones, feeds and notifications actually do to attention, and which findings survived replication.
Explore topicWhat changes when notes, search, study tools and AI carry part of the thinking for us.
Explore topicHow interfaces use ranking, defaults, autoplay and stopping cues to influence what we do next.
Explore topicWe will point you at the research that speaks to it.
New research-led articles on the human mind under digital pressure.
Attention Restoration Theory says time in nature rests a tired attention system. A systematic review of 31 studies found improvement on 3 of 13 attention measures, mostly digit span, and called the picture uncertain.
Read article
In 1998, people who resisted chocolate biscuits gave up on a puzzle in half the time. Two preregistered tests in 23 and 36 laboratories later found effects close to zero, and one was led by a co-author of the original.
Read article
In 2012 Facebook filtered the News Feeds of 689,003 people to see whether it changed how they felt. The effect was tiny, the measure was disputed, and the consent claim drew a journal Expression of Concern.
Read article
Amazon's 1-Click patent claimed the removal of a step, survived a court challenge only barely, and the spending effect it is credited with is small and shrinking.
Read article
QWERTY was not built to slow typists, and the Navy study showing Dvorak was faster was run by Dvorak. The independent 1956 test found retraining never paid off.
Read article
No one has found phones secretly listening to target ads, but the researchers who looked say that is not proof. The FTC's findings on data collection explain the coincidence.
Read articleEvery load-bearing claim is traced to a named source. Where a finding failed to replicate, we say so. Where the research does not settle a question, we say that instead of guessing.
Our research standardsAlongside the articles, we keep a short library of books, tools and further reading relevant to attention, memory and digital design. Every entry is chosen on editorial merit, and any paid link is labelled as such.
Browse the library
The Weekly System has not launched yet. Join the launch list to hear when the first issue of this planned, research-led email is ready. No launch date or schedule has been announced.