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Thimon de Jong is not suggesting that organizers ban phones, but rather change how attendees use them in-session by embracing digital etiquette.
Thimon de Jong, author of Future Human Behavior: Understanding What People Are Going to Do Next and founder of an Amsterdam-based think tank that applies behavioral research to leadership training, has spoken at conferences and business events around the globe for more than a decade. One thing he’s noticed, he said, is that the moment that the moderator signals that it’s time for a break, “75 percent of the audience grabs their phones and doesn’t look up for the next 10 to 15 minutes.”
If there is one behavioral tweak de Jong would like to see event participants adopt for their own emotional and cognitive benefit, it’s delaying picking up their phones for 10 to 15 minutes after sessions wrap up. He’s not suggesting that organizers ban phones: “You need to be on your phone — to check on the kids, check on work, on email,” he said. “But not in the first five to 10 minutes of the coffee break.” It matters, he said, because when you reach for your phone right after a talk or a panel or workshop, you divert cognitive resources “that would otherwise be used to consolidate memories, reflect on the experience, and internalize new information, reducing both comprehension and retention,” de Jong told Convene in an email.
Thimon de Jong
Instead, he suggested, participants should spend those first minutes thinking about what they’ve just heard and turning to other participants to ask, “So what do you think? What are you taking away from that morning session?” Talking with others right after a session allows participants to both reflect on and share the experience, de Jong added, “which helps to deepen emotional processing and create social bonds that increase happiness — and can even reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation.”
He cited a study in which students who kept their phones out of reach after class reported higher levels of mindfulness and lower anxiety. The findings indicate, he wrote, “that periods of undistracted reflection enhance emotional well-being and present-moment awareness.”
Waiting isn’t going to make much of a difference in what you’ll find on your phone, “but it will make a big difference in how you interact with others,” he said. “You still have to allow people their phone time, but at the end of the coffee break.”
He feels so strongly about the benefits to participants of delaying their phone use during breaks that he’d like to see “digital etiquette” announcements made from the stage, alongside information about emergency exits and the venue’s Wi-Fi password. This may not be a “groundbreaking insight,” de Jong said, but this “little behavioral trick” can make a big difference.
Barbara Palmer is Convene’s deputy editor.
Read more from Convene about behavioral expert Thimon de Jong and conferences.