SMU Associate Professor of Psychology Yang Hwajin and SMU PhD student in psychology Andree Hartanto wrote about a series of experiments they conducted with university students to examine both the consequences and implications of "smartphone separation" in Singapore. Their findings support their hypothesis that heightened anxiety incurred by smartphone separation significantly impairs cognitive performance, especially higher-order cognitive processes that govern conscious, deliberate and goal-directed actions. They wrote, “Knowing these negative consequences of smartphone dependency and smartphone separation, one might ask whether we should ban smartphones. But a blanket restriction is not a practical solution. Smartphones are useful tools and even the fear of missing out is adaptive to some extent - to avoid social exclusion. A more realistic solution would be to use them in moderation … Smartphones are beginning to control our lives. We need to be smarter, and radically change how we use them.”