In hindsight, this seems so obvious!

Thank you for sharing this hack. I think I will employ it regularly in the future.

A related hack if you don't want to put your phone behind your laptop - put the phone screen-side down. This way the changing states of the screen (when you get a notification) won't distract you.

The researchers specifically tested phone face up vs phone face down and noticed no statistical difference, I believe.

I guess it depends on if you have (and are used to having) you phone make a noise when you receive notifications. I have most notifications set to silent, and some I let vibrate. The only thing that makes a sound is my alarm and calls.

Since smart phones became a thing I've always had them set to vibrate, I don't really see why you need your phone to make a sound (and disturb other people) when you get such things as an Instagram like or a game wanting you to play more. Biggest quality of life improvement was disabling vibrate (so it's silent) for instant messages and SMS (which my phone always notifies me twice about?) - they can wait a few minutes to hours and don't need instant replies.

They tested power-off vs power-on. No results on face-up vs face-down, but they probably didn't record it.

Phone in the pocket (silent) works well for me. At home, I just put it on charge somewhere and mostly forget about it. However, a side effect of it is, In my social circle, I am the guy who doesn't respond on time. I miss phone calls all the time. But since I do it consistently, everyone knows nowadays. :)