According to Harvard, if you use a smartphone, you might be a wuss

Researchers at Harvard Business School have published a study suggesting that the use of devices with small screens can cause people to have less assertiveness than those using larger-screened devices. 

Now, before every self-doubting man reading this article goes out and purchases a Samsung Galaxy Note or other phablet, here’s an explanation, straight from the abstract of the group’s paper, “iPosture: The Size of Electronic Consumer Devices Affects Our Behavior”:

“Grounded in research showing that adopting expansive body postures increases psychological power, we hypothesized that working on larger devices, which forces people to physically expand, causes users to behave more assertively.”

So it’s actually a combination of two things: the smaller device causes users to hunch over and be more “mousey” while interacting with the device. Repeating this physical behavior for long stretches throughout the day, in turn, has an effect on one’s behavior.

Here’s how they were able to determine this: 75 participants were randomly assigned tasks to perform on variously sized devices, including an iPod Touch, iPad, MacBook Pro, and iMac.

Once the tasks were completed, the researcher told the participant: “I will be back in five minutes to debrief you, and then pay you so that you can leave. If I am not here, please come get me at the front desk.” The researcher then waited up to 10 minutes to return.

The group discovered that participants who had been using smaller devices took longer to fetch the researcher than those using larger devices. Specifically, of those using a desktop computer, 94% got up to fetch the researcher. Only half the group using the iPod Touch got up and left the room.

The team determined that smartphone and tablet users tend to hunch over their devices and contract their bodies. Desktop users, on the other hand, tend to have a more open posture. 

 
Chart displays the percentage of device users who left the room to retrieve the researcher.

Now, the purpose of the study is not to necessarily rid the world of small devices. Instead, the point of all this can be gleamed from how the group concluded their study:

“Many of us spend hours each day interacting with our electronic devices. In professional settings we often use them to be efficient and productive. We may, however, lose sight of the impact the device itself has on our behavior and as a result be less effective. We suggest that some time before going into a meeting, and obviously also during it, you put your cell phone away.”

Story via: hbs.edu