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Can't put down the phone? How smartphones are changing our brains — and lives

  

Category:  Health, Science & Technology

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  6 years ago  •  74 comments

Can't put down the phone? How smartphones are changing our brains — and lives
One study showed Americans touch their mobile devices more than 2,600 times a day.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



By   Lynne Peeples

Until a year and a half ago, Samuel Veissiere's smartphone was the last thing he saw before he fell asleep and the first thing that greeted him when he woke up. During the day, the device bombarded him with constant notifications — from four different email accounts as well as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Reddit and Twitter.

"It was abominable," said Veissiere, co-director of the Culture, Mind and Brain Program at McGill University in Montreal.


It's also a daily storyline familiar to many of us. In the U.S., at least   three of every four people now own a smartphone . And one estimate suggests that Americans   touch their mobile devices more than 2,600 times a day   on average. But what do all those pings and buzzes, scrolls and swipes actually add up to? Is it worrisome — or not so much? After all, Socrates once warned that writing would "introduce forgetfulness" and make people "difficult to get along with."

"I think we know enough now to be deeply concerned about how these very, very powerful and seductive devices are influencing pretty much every aspect of our life," said Nicholas Carr, a technology and culture author.

Veissiere and Carr are among researchers and public figures calling attention not just to the more widely discussed impacts of our phones — such as dinner disruptions and   distracted drivers   — but also to their subtler effects, which some fear could result in profound changes to our brains and to society.

Initial data from a   $300-million study by the National Institutes of Health , for example, now provides evidence that a child's brain may indeed develop differently with heavy use of digital devices. Those of us whose brains matured before the first iPhone came to market in 2007 may also be vulnerable to mental changes. The more tethered we are to our phones, studies show, the harder it is to think deeply, attentively and conceptually —   not to mention remember basic information . (Some of us may recall an era when our brains — not our devices — managed to remember our friends' phone numbers and birthdays.)

LAWS OF ATTRACTION AND DISTRACTION


Our smartphones seem to wield their influence even when we're not using them. The mere   presence of a smartphone seemed to reduce the quality of conversations   in one study. Another study found a link between having a smartphone within sight, even if turned off, with lower scores on tests of short-term memory and problem solving.

"The effect is biggest for people who rely on their phones the most," said Adrian Ward, an expert in technology and cognition at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of that last study. "The more you give it control over different things —   social connections , news, work, etc. — the more you are going to be attracted to this device."

Simply trying to resist that automatic attraction, he explained, takes up cognitive resources.

Even basic human decency may be sacrificed. Research suggests that smartphones can inhibit people from offering   help to strangers   on the street, reduce how much we   smile at   unfamiliar faces   in a waiting room and even lessen our trust of strangers, neighbors and people of other religions or nationalities.

"People don't talk about or realize that we actually get quite a lot from casual social interactions," said Kostadin Kushlev, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia and an author of several smartphone studies. "Even when phones are at their most useful — such as when we're bored to death in the waiting room — there might be other things we're missing out on."

Perhaps not surprisingly, researchers have also begun to link weakened social skills, including the   inability to read emotions   or initiate casual conversations, to smartphone use.

"It takes time and practice to develop those skills," said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University. She studies generational differences and is currently focused on the   post-millennial generation , or people born in 1995 or later. The iGen, as she calls them, is the first generation to spend its entire adolescence with smartphones.


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Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Expert
1  seeder  Perrie Halpern R.A.    6 years ago

It might be hard to believe, but I am not a big cell phone user. My hubby on the other hand, is on it all the time. Maybe I just spend too much time online?

So one of us might be having an issue. 

 
 
 
epistte
Junior Participates
1.1  epistte  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1    6 years ago

I check my phone a few times a day and then plug it in before I go to bed, but I prefer to use a desktop. 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2  Buzz of the Orient    6 years ago

No smartphone for me.  My phone cost the equivalent of about US$45.  I can get and make phone calls. I can receive and send text messages.  It shows me the time and date.  It has a number of other features that I don't use.  I probably use the built-in flashlight as much as I make phone calls.  It has a camera I don't use because I use my regular camera.  If I make and receive more than 2 calls and/or text messages a week it's unusual.  It has no internet or movies or music and I really don't care because NO WAY am I going to be wedded to my phone.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.1  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2    6 years ago

I use my phone for work, personal calls, texts, taking pictures  ( because the quality is just as good as my 35mm cameras and I can upload to NT in less than 2 minutes.)

 I cannot do that with  the 35mm and by the time you download a 35mm picture and convert it to jpeg or whatever - the advantages are lost.

I have too many tactical led torches lying about to ever consider the iphone AS A 'flashlight'.

no movies, no music on the iphone.

I have an 8 track player, cassette player, a laser player,  disc player and  now record everything on the damnned computer

where I have to try to remember where I parked the effing file.............

no /s

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.3  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2    6 years ago

Interesting to note that my price is comparable to yours.

Probably would be less without all of the nuisance taxes for 911, FCC and similar taxes....

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.3.1  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @2.3    6 years ago

Probably not bad for 2 iphones but ....

Surcharges

Dollar 2 and 64 cents
$2.64

Taxes and gov fees

Dollar 2 and 42 cents
$2.42

TX State 911 Fee

Dollar 0 and 50 cents
$0.50

TX Equalization Surcharge

Dollar 0 and 06 cents
$0.06

TX State Sales Tax-Telco

Dollar 1 and 29 cents
$1.29

TX State Sales Tax

Dollar 0 and 12 cents
$0.12
 City Sales Tax-Telecom
Dollar 0 and 31 cents
$0.31

 CCD Tax-Telecom

Dollar 0 and 10 cents
$0.10

City City Sales Tax

Dollar 0 and 03 cents
$0.03

City CCD Tax

Dollar 0 and 01 cents
$0.01
 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.3.2  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @2.3.1    6 years ago

seems like a trail of 'worthless' penny charges that do add up.

 
 
 
shona1
Professor Quiet
2.4  shona1  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2    6 years ago

Evening Buzz..Sounds like my phone....Bought the cheapest prepaid mobile phone I could find..$99 (US$70)....naturally they were trying to push the more expensive one's. Usual spiel...black spots, no signal blah blah..Said nope..I will not go into mass hysterics if I lose it...or if someone wants to steal it...they would probably give it back. Pay $1 a day for as many phone calls and texts I like..Days go by and I have not used either. Does for what I want and very happy with it....I hate technology and look at it as a necessary evil...and will never be a slave to it...

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.4.1  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  shona1 @2.4    6 years ago

No service contract needed in China - pay cash for the phone, and put up a deposit for the minutes. About two years ago I deposited 200 Yuan (about US$33) for minutes and I've still got more than half of that left - that should indicate how much I use it.

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
3  pat wilson    6 years ago

Did you hear about the $100,000.00 challenge ?

ap-937715224401.jpg

Ditch your smartphone for a year, win $100,000

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
4  It Is ME    6 years ago

Never liked so-called "Smart Phones" from the beginning. jrSmiley_50_smiley_image.gif

"Dumb" …..... IS …… the new norm since ! Unless someone has another definition of "IS" …… that "IS" ! jrSmiley_87_smiley_image.gif

Sarcastically saying …………………. "It's on the Internet, it MUST be true" ! jrSmiley_80_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
Jasper2529
Professor Quiet
5  Jasper2529    6 years ago

Even though our kids are all over 30, we still have rules about cell phone use when we're together. Nothing is more important than family time.  But, I remember when they were younger, they called us the "bad parents" because we had only one computer for all of us. It was in the family room, and the kids were allowed 30 minutes each on MySpace only if they'd finished their homework and chores. When each turned 16, they got a cell phone - "primitive" because they could only make/receive calls.

Here's an interesting article that supports the seeded article. Tom Kersting is a well-known psychologist who specializes in pre-teens and adolescents, especially in their usages of electronics and how it affects their (still) unformed brains:

PS ... I bought my first smart phone a month ago, and don't know how to use >3/4 of what it can do!  

 
 
 
epistte
Junior Participates
5.1  epistte  replied to  Jasper2529 @5    6 years ago
PS ... I bought my first smart phone a month ago, and don't know how to use >3/4 of what it can do!  

I've had my current phone for 3 years and I'm still learning.  I had a Blackberry before that.

 
 
 
Jasper2529
Professor Quiet
5.1.1  Jasper2529  replied to  epistte @5.1    6 years ago
I've had my current phone for 3 years and I'm still learning. 

That's truly encouraging, because I've been very frustrated when I can't figure out what I do wrong. My other cell phones were so easy to use. 

I had a Blackberry before that.

I never had one. I went from what I called my "stupid phones" (make/receive calls and texts) with a camera to this new Smart Phone thing. I leave it in the car when I go to doc/dentist offices because I can't remember how to either mute or turn the damn thing off! 

 
 
 
epistte
Junior Participates
5.1.2  epistte  replied to  Jasper2529 @5.1.1    6 years ago
I never had one. I went from what I called my "stupid phones" (make/receive calls and texts) with a camera to this new Smart Phone thing. I leave it in the car when I go to doc/dentist offices because I can't remember how to either mute or turn the damn thing off! 

I only know Android. Swipe down from the top and you will get a quick menu. Select vibrate/meeting or silent.   

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
5.1.3  Ender  replied to  epistte @5.1.2    6 years ago

I am use to Apple. I can't work an Android. On Apple it is just a switch on the side to make it silent.

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
5.1.4  sandy-2021492  replied to  Ender @5.1.3    6 years ago

My Android has a button on the side to silence it, too.

Or there's a menu, if I want to use it.  But the button is quicker.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
7  Ender    6 years ago

I am sure they said the same things about television.

Why does some numbnut have 4 email accounts? Overkill.

I like my phone. I can take some pretty good pictures. I have a bunch of music on it that I can listen to anywhere. Can hook it up to speakers with a simple connect or bluetooth.

I use weather apps, have the local news app. Weather radar.

I have actually started to use the alarm on my phone and not a stationary one. It wakes me up. Even has a snooze button.

I don't use twitter or facebook but I do use Instagram. It is a great way to see pics of family and friends. I have some out of town and get to see graduation pics, etc.

 
 
 
Jasper2529
Professor Quiet
7.1  Jasper2529  replied to  Ender @7    6 years ago
I am sure they said the same things about television.

I can't speak for all of the "they" of the 40s and early 50s, but my grandparents and parents told me that everyone they knew was thrilled when someone was able to buy a TV. They even had house parties and invited neighbors to watch shows with them (fewer than 5 channels in the 1950s). Also, people stood outside stores watching TVs in the windows. 

Why does some numbnut have 4 email accounts? Overkill.

Internet security is the primary reason to have more than 1 email account. I have a few email accounts and use each for one specific purpose, so I suppose I'm an overkill "numbnut" to you. 

 
 
 
epistte
Junior Participates
7.1.1  epistte  replied to  Jasper2529 @7.1    6 years ago

I think that I have/had 5 accounts. I only use 2 of them. One of them a throw away that I use when I need to register to access a site.   

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
7.1.2  Ender  replied to  Jasper2529 @7.1    6 years ago

In case you missed it, people use to say that tv was killing social interaction in children. They were plopped in front of a tv instead of outside playing with other kids. Also said the same about video games.

so I suppose I'm an overkill "numbnut" to you.

Don't....say....anything.....keep....thoughts....to....myself....

Haha

I can actually understand up to maybe three. Home, work and a throwaway.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
7.1.4  Ender  replied to    6 years ago

About the same here. Grad year '85. In HS I only remember one kid being really over weight. Even our football team, some were bigger and more muscular but none really fat, per say.

In middle school everyone had to run track. Even in elementary we had Field Day, where everyone participated in and won ribbons for winning different track and field events.

As far as tv, the only thing I really did was watch some Saturday morning cartoons. Then it was outside to see what everyone was up to. Riding bikes, trekking in the woods, etc.

In HS I did have to walk uphill to get there, though I did cheat on the way home. Brought a skateboard and coasted home.

We ran around and would be gone all day. No phones. Parents now would freak.

 
 
 
321steve - realistically thinkin or Duu
Sophomore Participates
7.1.5  321steve - realistically thinkin or Duu   replied to    6 years ago

I blame much of america's obesity on the processed foods we all eat. 

I worked for an old guy who loved he old movies. I kinda enjoyed them myself and was amazed at how thin americas were back then. Yes most americans were  more active back then as well But I think its a combination of the two. crap for food and too much use of modern labor reducing conveniences. 

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
7.1.6  Ender  replied to  321steve - realistically thinkin or Duu @7.1.5    6 years ago

Fast food is horrible too.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
8  igknorantzrulz    6 years ago

when did we start calling them mobile devices

i have enff vices

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
8.1  dave-2693993  replied to  igknorantzrulz @8    6 years ago
when did we start calling them mobile devices

I have no f'n  idea, but we did and to be honest it makes a tonne mor sense that phone.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
8.1.1  igknorantzrulz  replied to  dave-2693993 @8.1    6 years ago

tiny powerful computers that fit in most of our pockets undermining social interaction.

basically a big distraction that has proven to be a death sentence via the active action of driving,

possibly a larger in fraction

than most care to be aware

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
8.1.2  dave-2693993  replied to  igknorantzrulz @8.1.1    6 years ago

Pretty much all true for the weak minded/or weak of self control, much like the the millions of dip shits who abused pain killers and made things next to impossible for the folks in excruciating pain who actually need them.

It is always the least common denominator in human character to control the rest of humanity.

Can't really complain. Probably a characteristic that has been with us for millions of years.

Coping kind of comes to mind.

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
8.1.3  dave-2693993  replied to  dave-2693993 @8.1.2    6 years ago

You know, I should qualify that.

Anyone who thinks they are above such weaknesses of some sort is is either a liar or stupid.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
8.1.4  igknorantzrulz  replied to  dave-2693993 @8.1.3    6 years ago

u left out in denial

 
 
 
dave-2693993
Junior Quiet
8.1.5  dave-2693993  replied to  igknorantzrulz @8.1.4    6 years ago

Yep.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
10  igknorantzrulz    6 years ago

i feel used

.

like a laxative

;

hopefully not a suppository

butt

i've been unknown 

to ride any asses

too hard

 
 

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