The average person interacts with their smartphone over two thousand times per day, and many in the business world have decided that their use has become a drain on productivity and have taken steps to ban them, according to The Wall Street Journal. Even without touching the devices, research from the University of Texas and California have shown that their mere presence can lower cognitive performance.
Managers and executives have tried different ways to limit their use in the workplace and have done everything from forcing a person to stand if their phone went off to designating specific areas in the office where phones are allowed. Some teams have chosen to make a game of it to compete for bragging rights over who can use their phones the least. Results so far have been mixed and haven't always lasted long, but there is a movement for limiting smartphones in the workplace.