Switching off your mobile phone could help drastically improve productivity in Australian workplaces, neuroscientists say.

Staff addicted to their phones are so easily distracted by messages, notifications and the 24/7 connectivity of modern technology, that workers are spending less time concentrating on deep thinking. 

And that could be bad news for bosses.

Cognitive neuroscience expert Dr Fiona Kerr told 3AW Breakfast where possible, turning phones off could help.

‘The more we’ve got to concentrate on something, the more we can take time to unpack information, when we are doing that, the ding of a phone, which gives us a dopamine spike, completely distracts us,’ she said.

‘So the brain has to unpack all of that information again.’

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