Your Smartphone Is Making You Stupid!

[Afi4wins]

NOPE! I am not saying that to you…but someone else is…

https://lifehacker.com/your-smartphone-is-making-you-stupid-1796449887

 

 

Your Smartphone Is Making You Stupid

Patrick Lucas Austin

6/27/17 11:00am

 

 

You lock yourself in a study room on the second floor of your college’s library, surrounded by dusty tomes and people who just love making out, and proceed to work on your graduate thesis. Unfortunately, you didn’t get rid of the biggest distraction to your studying: your smartphone. Turning it off might keep you from being distracted, but you’re better off throwing it out the window.

 

On second thought, just leave it at home.

 

That’s what a study from the University of Chicago suggests after discovering having your smartphone in close proximity not only distracts you from the task at hand, but reduces your ability to handle more complex cognitive actions like remembering and processing data. For those who depend on their smartphone for most things (so, everyone) the effects on their cognitive capacity may be most severe.

 

Researchers asked participants to keep their silent phones visible on a desk, in a pocket or bag, or in a separate room altogether. They then performed tests on a computer to measure cognitive capacity, one called the Automated Operation Span task measuring working memory capacity, another called the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, measuring fluid intelligence.

 

“The present research identifies a potentially costly side effect of the integration of smartphones into daily life: smartphone-induced “brain drain.” We provide evidence that the mere presence of consumers’ smartphones can adversely affect two measures of cognitive capacity—available working memory capacity and functional fluid intelligence—without interrupting sustained attention or increasing the frequency of phone-related thoughts.”

 

The problem stems from your brain using a bit of your cognitive capacity to stay on track when you know your phone is right next to you, begging to be touched. It gets compounded when something like a notification gets your attention, causing you to think about what that notification (text messages from family, email from a boss) actually means, sending your brain on a tangent that distracts from your primary goal.

 

The results showed a surprisingly strong case for leaving your phone somewhere else when you want to perform well on a task. The two groups of participants who kept phones nearby either on a desk or in a bag showed lower working memory capacity (the ability to remember information temporarily) and a lower functional fluid intelligence (the ability to solve new problems and see patterns).

 

Cognitive capacity increased the further removed participants were from their phones.

 

Participants with phones in another room greatly outperformed those with phones in pockets or on desks in all tasks.

 

 

 

So…are you still bringing your smartphone into the toilet with you? I bet you are!   

 

Me? I don’t even own a smartphone…I’m one of the rare human species that's still using the old stupid phone…no finger flicking and no finger tapping…just good old finger typing for anything I need to find! Hahaha.   

 

[cocopop3011]

What a load of rubbish  Not what you wrote of course, what the writer wrote.

 

You all already know I am very much pro-technology, pro-mobile devices/tablets etc. Why? Because it is the future whether people like it or not these devices are shaping the worlds future and technology will only continue to advance over the years.

 

To be fair the writer probably does have some solid facts. I don't doubt a smartphone distracts you from daily activities. I probabable check mine every 30 minutes    and yes if it's next to me on the sofa I have to keep looking at it. BUT would I live without it? Heck NO! Not just because I want to check social media (I don't play games on it) but it's a vital tool for communication with my family and friends.

 

The iPad is an excellent tool for education for my kids. We play lots of learning apps on there, things you simply cannot get in a book! I'm sorry but I'll defend them until the cows come home 

 

Do I think they make you stupid? Absolutely not in fact I think it's the complete opposite to this! Do I check my phone too much? H ell Yes   

[LeoDubbed]

It depends what you're doing with your smartphone, you can get smarter by playing puzzle games and trivia games but if you're watching adult movies all day and stroking your joystick/button, well...you can't learn anything from it.

[pinnit2015]

It depends what you're doing with your smartphone, you can get smarter by playing puzzle games and trivia games but if you're watching adult movies all day and stroking your joystick/button, well...you can't learn anything from it.

Know which yin sounds more appealing 

[Afi4wins]

What a load of rubbish  Not what you wrote of course, what the writer wrote.

 

You all already know I am very much pro-technology, pro-mobile devices/tablets etc. Why? Because it is the future whether people like it or not these devices are shaping the worlds future and technology will only continue to advance over the years.

 

To be fair the writer probably does have some solid facts. I don't doubt a smartphone distracts you from daily activities. I probabable check mine every 30 minutes    and yes if it's next to me on the sofa I have to keep looking at it. BUT would I live without it? Heck NO! Not just because I want to check social media (I don't play games on it) but it's a vital tool for communication with my family and friends.

 

The iPad is an excellent tool for education for my kids. We play lots of learning apps on there, things you simply cannot get in a book! I'm sorry but I'll defend them until the cows come home 

 

Do I think they make you stupid? Absolutely not in fact I think it's the complete opposite to this! Do I check my phone too much? H ell Yes   

 

Hahaha...and I do know how attached you are to your smartphone and tablet. 

 

Anyway, the researchers at the University Of Chicago made that finding, after comparing experimental results from those with their smartphones nearby them with those that left their smartphones in another room. So the blame should go to those researchers! Hahaha.

 

Do smartphones make anyone stupid? Now that's stupid! That statement, I mean, hehehe. Smartphones may cause a lot of distraction, it may even slow down productivity to a certain extent, but it certainly doesn't make anyone stupid! But then again, it's probably just a stupid term to use by the author/writer of that article! 

[Afi4wins]

It depends what you're doing with your smartphone, you can get smarter by playing puzzle games and trivia games but if you're watching adult movies all day and stroking your joystick/button, well...you can't learn anything from it.

 

Stroking your joystick/button...???    Ooooooh geeeeees! 

[pinnit2015]

Stroking your joystick/button...???    Ooooooh geeeeees! 

Says the voice of experience 

[Afi4wins]

Says the voice of experience 

 

Well, he ain't a lion for nothing! 

[cocopop3011]

Well, he ain't a lion for nothing! 

 

 

Says the voice of experience 

 

 

Stroking your joystick/button...???    Ooooooh geeeeees! 

 

 

It depends what you're doing with your smartphone, you can get smarter by playing puzzle games and trivia games but if you're watching adult movies all day and stroking your joystick/button, well...you can't learn anything from it.

 

How did we get to that from the original topic   

[Afi4wins]

How did we get to that from the original topic   

 

Blame it on that lion and his smartphone!!! 

[LeoDubbed]

Hold up, hold up hoooold up! It is the truth, you can get dumb if you doing it too much. Fact is, you have less blood in your brain and therefore also less oxygen in your brain which leads to dumbness...I mean numbness of your brain, you cannot think straight and only focused on that particular thingy, you know, being a fireman.

[Afi4wins]

Hold up, hold up hoooold up! It is the truth, you can get dumb if you doing it too much. Fact is, you have less blood in your brain and therefore also less oxygen in your brain which leads to dumbness...I mean numbness of your brain, you cannot think straight and only focused on that particular thingy, you know, being a fireman.

 

And so the experienced fireman has spoken! 

But I'm a fireman too...so okay...agree to agree matey!