Introduction
Who does not own a smartphone today? How long can people between the ages of 20-50 take before touching their smartphones? Smartphones have become a mandatory device for everyone interested in having continuous connections with others worldwide. Smartphones have developed into an encyclopedia of information that is convenient for people when needed. They save the brain from the need to work to obtain pertinent information to satisfy immediate cognitive needs. Smartphone devices are being integrated into everyday life regardless of the benefits and limitations they present to the human mind. They allow people to access limitless networks of social contacts and knowledge (Nijssen et al., 1). About 88.2% of people now prefer smartphones over computers, and about 78.2% use smartphones to access the internet and exploit the leisure activities associated with smartphone online platforms (Xavier et al., 1). Smartphones make people to be available to each other every time, and their continuous advancement increases their effect on cohesion due to their improved features. They allow people to stay connected with their family and closest friends, making them a structural element in modern society (Soukup, 5). Smartphones have different gaming applications that positively affect people’s minds due to the attention and expertise usually required to record wins (Soukup, 22). Therefore, the paper is set to discuss the role of smartphones on our brains, arguing that smartphones have significantly empowered our brains by allowing us to access educational resources, stay connected with others, enhance our thinking process, and intensify our efficiency and productivity.
Smartphones allow people to access educational resources. Muhammad Ansari et al.’s. “Smartphones Usage in the Classrooms: Learning Aid or Interference? “Education and Information Technologies” identifies that educational institutions are continually considering the utilization of smartphones in their learning process as critical learning aids. The consideration is attributed to students owning smartphones in large numbers. The students use smartphones to access internet platforms containing information necessary to fulfill their learning needs. Smartphones are convenient to students due to their portability, convenience, and environmentally friendly nature. The features offer students comprehensive learning experiences that make them fulfill their learning needs. Smartphones are usually instrumental in managing group assignments and interactions with teachers in classroom settings. However, having rules for their utilization is necessary for the students to maximally benefit from their utilization (Ansari et al., 1). Paul Soukup “Smartphones.” Communication Research Trends establishes smartphones as devices that combine computer and telephone services in a single device. Smartphones offer new resources to students, increasing the opportunities for learners beyond the classroom space to the public space where people can continually learn new things. Using applications in the classroom enhances the learning process, harnesses the students, and leads to collaborative learning that is instrumental in ensuring the students have maximum gains from the learning process (Soukup, 10). Smartphones are critical in the learning support process. Smartphones usually harness blogging at the community level, allow for data collection, results sharing, and data analysis, and often encourage alternate discovery forms essential for the cognitive mind. The brain is allowed to have an easy time making the appropriate conclusions and recommendations following the informed analysis process. Smartphones enable students to experiment with their formats in class settings. Moreover, ubiquitous learning is actualized through the interactivity of smartphones that allow cultural heritage learning involving support services, information access, and virtual tours (Soukup, 12). The ubiquitous learning enables students to have inclusive, scalable, and accessible education that boosts their social skills and cognitive awareness.
Smartphones enhance the thinking process of people regardless of their educational background. Nijssen et al., “Has Your Smartphone Replaced Your Brain? Construction and Validation of the Extended Mind Questionnaire (XMQ).” acknowledges that the technology used in making smartphones is continually adjusting how people utilize their minds during their daily activities. Smartphones assist people in their cognitive activities, making them easily connect with their peers and fulfill the required brain functions (Nijssen et al., 6). The devices are robust, flexible, and well-used and augment people’s cognition. When individuals multitask on the media platforms on their devices, they multitask in their typical tasks since their brains have adapted to the multiple functions. Similarly, individuals who have normalized using smartphones often have more ability to process information, more so when offered smartphones to complete different tasks. According to Kit Eaton’s “A Workout for Your Brain, on Your Smartphone, ” smartphones enhance people’s cognitive abilities by exploiting other brain workouts. A typical activity is actualized by free applications such as Lumosity Brain Trainer, found in Appstore. The workout contains multiple sessions containing about three games that are critical in enhancing memory, intensifying thinking flexibility, and problem-solving. The uniqueness of the workout allows it to be played against the clock (Eaton, 1). Another application is the Fit Brains Trainer, which aims to improve and stretch people’s mental agility to offer direction to typical tasks. Mental maths skills, estimation, and observation are often tested when a smartphone user can direct colors into different graphical paint tins (Eaton, 3).
Smartphones are critical in the communication process, making people connect with others. Smartphones have standard telephony, actualized through internet services and cellular networks. The devices manage the connections through the 4G and 3G, made possible by cellular data or Wi-Fi connections. Most people use smartphones for social media interactions, uploading materials, downloading files, and surfing the web (Soukup, 3). The utilization of smartphones in the communication process is more prevalent among teens. They always spend most of their time on social media platforms, allowing them to communicate with their peers in different regions worldwide. The devices enable them to instantly call and text other people regardless of their geographical areas so long as the communication networks are operational. Similarly, they allow people to keep in touch with each other irrespective of their geographical regions, decreasing stress associated with the uncertainties of the associates’ pace. The people who use the devices for communication usually spend time catching up with trends, playing games, viewing graphics, exchanging instant messaging, and engaging in social networking. Smartphones have become ubiquitous in teenagers’ lives, and the enhancement in the communication process is improving their cognitive abilities since they can engage in multiple tasks and save time (Soukup, 6). The scholarly work by Simonite, “A Brain-Inspired Chip, Helps Smartphones Spot Faces, “ identifies that the drones, like smartphones, are modeled on neuromorphic chips designed on features visualized in brains. The neurons in the devices allow for communication in electricity spikes, and they are usually more energy-efficient than the typical chips (Simonite, 2). The chips have the capability of reprogramming themselves to acquire new skills. Smartphones allow for and communication intelligence degree through the sensors that can be adjusted to satisfy different unique needs, just as neuromorphic chips are used in other systems, including planes and cars. Thus, the communication intelligence derived from smartphones allows humans to have meaningful and successful interactions, allowing people to have better executive functions, problem-solving, and orientation.
Smartphones intensify our productivity and efficiency in typical daily engagements. Smartphones are used in multiple realms to interpret findings and give detailed reports. Price et al., “Validation of a Smartphone-Based Approach to In Situ Cognitive Fatigue Assessment.” asserts that smartphones are crucial in interpreting fatigue due to the validity of the key findings. The assessment is actualized through the use of mental arithmetic tests and spatial span tests that are installed as programs on smartphone devices. The applications increase productivity and efficiency by aligning with the typical subjective fatigue measurements (Price et al. 6). The cognitive tests adapted to smartphones have more usability for individuals with brain injuries because of the individuals’ unique cognitive impairments. The participants that have been involved in the smartphone cognitive tests have continually offered positive feedback, where the majority of the participants have suggested that the smartphone tests should have personal scores (Price et al. 7). Nevertheless, Torous et al., “Barriers, Benefits, and Beliefs of Brain Training Smartphone Apps: An Internet Survey of Younger US Consumers.” acknowledges that the utilization of brain training apps that are smartphone-based are beneficial to the thinking process. The applications on the devices enhance memory, mood, and memory. The users of the applications usually have high perceptions and expectations of the applications; luckily, the expectations sometimes change after they have utilized the applications. Most of the developments associated with brain training are directly related to the efficacy of research focused on realizing generalizable benefits (Torous et al., 5). Exercising the brain’s plasticity leads to intensified productivity, where individuals can establish new connections that offer direction to the mind. It is always more accessible for people to engage in a flow and realize their best outcomes. Focusing on critical matters in their immediate surroundings is always easier for them.
Conversely, smartphones impair our emotional and social skills. Xavier et al., “Problematic Use of the Internet and Smartphones in University Students: 2006–2017.” notes that using smartphones has been directly associated with multiple issues such as inability to communicate, anxiety, and stress. There is a continuous rise in the problematic utilization of smartphones, more so to access the internet. The addiction to screens is making students, more so those in higher learning institutions, incapacitated in satisfying some of the critical functions required of them daily (Xavier et al., 10). The addictions seem to hinder the self-control required when using smartphones, leading to adverse consequences on people’s lives involving reduced reaction times and cognitive task deficiencies. Smartphones increase the time people spend interacting with others, compelling them to spend most of their time glued to the screen. In some cases, excessive use makes individuals have feelings of being isolated from other people, which, in turn, leads to mental health problems, inability to focus, and inactivity. Developing robust relationships and interpersonal connections critical for the entire community and individual health is always difficult. Before smartphones were prevalent, communication among people was face-to-face making the communication process to be enriched. People have developed impatience in their face-to-face communication, reducing its effectiveness. Research studies have demonstrated that smartphone communication is a crucial contributor to depression affecting users. Just like Xavier et al. Soukup identifies that smartphones are detrimental to the cognitive ability of people. Soukup notes that the continuous utilization of the smartphone affects people’s minds, adjusting their patterns and interpersonal communication with those in their immediate surroundings. Most people using smartphones prefer watching videos on their mobile phones, and they always consider listening to music on mobile applications rather than on the radio (Soukup, 26). In most cases, the capability of people to express themselves is affected, making people unable to engage in subcultures, cultures, and politics in everyday life. The inability to express oneself impacts how people keep in touch with their feelings, leading to significant tension. There is usually a high risk of emotions bursting out in different situations that are inappropriate and embarrassing.
Conclusion
In summary, the discussion of the role of smartphones on our brains, arguing that smartphones have significantly empowered our brains by allowing us to access educational resources, stay connected with others, enhance our thinking process, and intensify our efficiency and productivity, is essential in understanding the role of smartphones on intelligence. Smartphones are necessary in modern society due to the cognitive benefits they offer people. The intensified connectivity has revolutionized communication since it allows instant video chatting, making phone calls, and sending and receiving messages, leading to decreased communication stress. Enhanced access to information is crucial to the human mind in finding answers to typical inquiries and directions when faced with dilemmas. Increased productivity and efficiency enable people to be directly connected with their places of work and associates, leading to continuous work engagements that are necessary for more motivation and employee morale. Exercising the brain’s plasticity leads to intensified productivity, where individuals can establish new connections that offer direction to the mind. Besides, the convenience derived from smartphones is critical in making life easier and saving time. People need to be purposeful when using smartphones to effectively gain from their functions and eliminate the typical habitual utilization of smartphones. Forgoing the utilization of smartphones is unrealistic; thus, the need for time limits and boundaries while utilizing them.
Works Cited
Ansari, Muhammad, et al. “Smartphones Usage in the Classrooms: Learning Aid or interferece? “Education and Information technologies”. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9572-7. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Eaton, Kit. “A Workout for Your Brain, on Your Smartphone.” The New York Times, 12 June 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/technology/personaltech/brain-workouts-on-your-smartphone.html. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Nijssen, R. et al. “Has Your Smartphone Replaced Your Brain? Construction and Validation of the Extended Mind Questionnaire (XMQ).” PloS One, vol. 13, no. 8, 2018, pp. e0202188–e0202188, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202188. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Price, Edward, et al. “Validation of a Smartphone-Based Approach to In Situ Cognitive Fatigue Assessment.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth, vol. 5, no. 8, 2017, https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.6333. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Simonite, Tom. “A Brain-Inspired Chip Helps Smartphones Spot Faces.” Technology Review (1998), vol. 117, no. 2, 2014, https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/11/04/170530/a-brain-inspired-chip-takes-to-the-sky/. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Soukup, Paul A. “Smartphones.” Communication Research Trends, vol. 34, no. 4, 2015. https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=comm. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Torous, John, et al. “Barriers, Benefits, and Beliefs of Brain Training Smartphone Apps: An Internet Survey of Younger US Consumers.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 10, 2016, pp. 180–180, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00180. Accessed 21 July 2023.
Xavier Carbonell, et al. “Problematic Use of the Internet and Smartphones in University Students: 2006–2017.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 15, no. 3, 2018, p. 475–, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030475. Accessed 21 July 2023.
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