Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, texting. I’ve become pretty attached to my phone, considering all the things I use it for. But it easily turns into a distraction, and the number one tip for efficiently doing schoolwork that comes from my teachers, parents and guidance counselors is to turn off my phone until all my work is done.

Let’s face it—that’s hard. The longer I’m doing homework, the more I want to use my phone, which definitely doesn’t get me through English readings and math packets.

For the past two weeks, I decided to put this tip to the test. I experimented with two contrasting approaches to doing homework and studying, hoping to somehow find a relatively painless way that works.

The first week, I did my homework and studied for tests with my phone turned off, and I wouldn’t turn it back on until all of my homework was done. The second week, I gave myself five-minute breaks to use my phone after every 30 minutes of homework and studying until all the work was done.

Now here’s what the science says the problem is. Students generally lose focus after three minutes, as found in an experiment by Dr. Larry Rosen at California State University, where students were told to study for 15 minutes. This caused the students to only study for about 65 percent of the time they were observed.

When it came to doing my homework, honestly, it took me the same amount of time to do my homework both ways. During both weeks, I spent an average of four hours every night doing what I had been assigned by my teachers. What did change, though, is that the second method kept me way more focused.

After taking breaks, I was placing all my concentration into that impossible math problem or confusing paragraph, knowing that if I kept going, soon enough, I’d get a break.

When I didn’t have breaks, I felt like I was racing toward a finish line. I wanted desperately to be done, but I knew that wouldn’t be happening for a long time.

Both methods had me putting down my phone for extended periods of time. I’ll give that to the teachers, parents and guidance counselors. What’s different is that rather than completely shutting off my phone, the best thing for me was to use my phone in a controlled way.

Going unplugged may be the best idea for Adele’s new song, but for me, it’s not best for doing homework.