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Letting go of your smartphone can really make you stupid, research has found.

A recent study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication has shown that users cognitive function was impaired when they were separated from their phones.

The test, completed by a research team from the University of Missouri, saw the subjects complete a word puzzle while their blood pressure was monitored. Researchers told the test-takers that smartphone interference was disrupting the instruments, and therefore needed to be left in another room when completing the next puzzle.

The researchers then upped the ante by calling the subjects’ phones while the tests were being filled in, to elicit a response.

As a result, blood pressure rose, performance levels in the puzzle decreased, and the candidates described themselves as feeling anxiety and detachment.

Russell Clayton, the doctoral student who led the study, said that smartphone separation can have a negative impact on how we perform mental tasks.

“The results from our study suggest that iPhones are capable of becoming an extension of our selves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of ‘self’ and a negative physiological state,” he said.