Impact On Cognitive Abilities
Whilst smartphones are really practical, they don’t really make us smarter. They are becoming increasingly capable of thinking for us; with the capacity to be used as appointment calendars, internet portals, calculators, gps, gaming devices, newspaper and more, smartphones seem capable of performing an almost limitless range of cognitive activities for us, basically making us more lazy. When was the last time you tried to read a map?
Moreover, experts suggest that the phone use can have an impact on children’s social and emotional development. Though young children engage very well with smartphones and tablets and it might be tempting to use the devices to entertain them, it’s not necessarily a good idea. Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine studied the effect of smartphone and iPad use among very young children and said they have a detrimental effect on their social and emotional development. They become especially problematic when replacing hands-on activities that help develop visual-motor and sensorimotor skills. There are still a lot of unanswered question when it comes to how the devices influence child development, and researchers still question how they might interfere with the problem-solving skills that are better acquired during unstructured play and interaction with other children.
Again, these are preliminary studies, as we’re still at the beginning of understanding the potential short-term and long-term effects that smartphones use might have on the brain. It’s important to highlight that whilst mobile devices are certainly bound to have their detriments, the researchers suggest that we have yet to fully understand how they might also benefit the brain.
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