Don't, you look really silly

UK researchers from Anglia Ruskin University sound like they’ve been having fun. They recently asked 21 participants to walk along a 5.5m pathway that contained a step-up box designed to trip them up. People walked the pathway a dozen times without their phone, then while talking on their phone, reading a text on their phone, and writing and sending a text on their mobile phone.

You know what happens next.

Yup, it seems our phones lower our multi-tasking skills. People took 118% longer to reach the end of the pathway when they were writing a text, and 67% longer when they were reading a text. Hilariously, the researchers also noted a “cautious stepping strategy” as people attempted to walk in a straight line. As for the box, nobody tripped over it – which is some consolation.