Does Using Your Phone Less Improve Your Attention Span?
By Max Ward, co-founder of DisConnect ·
Short answer: yes, according to the best test so far. In a 2025 randomized trial, iPhone users who blocked mobile internet on their phones for two weeks did better on an objective attention test, a gain the researchers compared to being about ten years younger. Calls and texts still worked the whole time, and most people also reported better mental health and well-being.
What did the study actually do?
Researchers recruited 467 iPhone users and used a blocking app to cut off mobile internet on their phones for two weeks. Laptops and desktops were still allowed, and so were calls and texts. One group went first, the other went two weeks later, so each group could be compared against itself and the other. It was preregistered and published in PNAS Nexus in February 2025.
How much did attention improve?
Attention was measured with a computer task that tracks how well you stay locked on over several minutes, not a self-report. Scores went up, and the authors say the size of the gain was about the same as the attention people lose over ten years of normal aging. Across all the outcomes they measured, 91% of participants improved on at least one.
Why would less phone mean better focus?
The researchers looked at what people did with the time. They spent more of it socializing in person, exercising and being outside, and that shift explained part of the improvement. In plain terms: the phone wasn't just stealing minutes, it was crowding out the stuff that rests your brain. Your phone taxes your focus even when you're not using it.
What's the catch?
Sticking to it was hard. Only about a quarter of participants kept the block on for most of the two weeks, even though they had volunteered. People also knew they were in a study about phones, which can colour how they rate their own mood. The attention result is the sturdier one because it came from a test, not a questionnaire.
Do screen time limits do the same thing?
Limits help, if they stick. In a separate 2022 study in the American Economic Review, letting people set limits on their future screen time substantially reduced use, and the authors estimated that self-control problems drive about 31% of social media use. The problem is that a limit with a dismiss button tends to get dismissed. Why "Ignore Limit" always wins.
How do you run your own two-week test?
- Block the feeds, keep the tools. Social, video and news apps go; calls, texts, maps and banking stay.
- Make the block hard to undo. Put the unlock out of reach. How to block apps so you can't unblock them.
- Fill the gap on purpose. A walk, a call, a book. The study suggests that's where the benefit comes from.
- Give it 14 days before you judge it.
Where does DisConnect fit?
The DisConnect Card is a physical NFC card that works with the free DisConnect app for iPhone. Pick the apps that eat your attention, tap the card to block them, and they stay blocked until you tap the card again. Leave it at home and the block holds, which is the part three quarters of the study's volunteers struggled with. How NFC app blockers work.
Two weeks, no willpower contest. The DisConnect Card is $39 one-time, needs no battery, and works with the free DisConnect app for iPhone. 30-day money-back guarantee.
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Questions people ask
Does using your phone less improve your attention span?
Yes. In a 2025 randomized trial, people who blocked mobile internet on their iPhones for two weeks scored better on an objective attention test, a gain the researchers compared to being about ten years younger.
How long does it take for attention to improve after cutting phone use?
In the 2025 PNAS Nexus trial, improvements showed up after two weeks of blocking mobile internet, with calls and texts still working.
Do screen time limits work?
They can. A 2022 study found that letting people set limits substantially reduced use, but limits you can dismiss with one tap are easy to ignore.
