Technology is making us ‘stupid’, study finds

. Heavy mobile phone, internet use linked to poor attention span

ARE humans going crazy because of heavy use of mobile phones and social media applications? It is easy to see why some think smartphones are turning us into zombies when you see people walking around aimlessly, eyes glued to their devices.

A new study reported in DailyMail online suggests that heavy internet and mobile phone users are the most likely to lose concentration and forget important information – even when they’re not using the technology.

The research was published in the United States (US) journal Computers In Human Behaviour.

And it is not all down to the internet and social media, as the effect was observed even in those whose phones weren’t connected to the internet.

People who use mobile phones and the internet most heavily are more likely to make mistakes, be forgetful and have worse spatial awareness, the study warned.

Dr. Lee Hadlington of De Montford University Leicester, United Kingdom, asked 210 people aged 18-65 to rate their behaviour in areas linked to perception, memory and motor function.

He found the more times a person used the internet or a mobile phone the more likely they were to experience ‘cognitive failures’.

These failures included not turning up to appointments, having trouble paying attention while in conversation and forgetting why they went to one part of the house to another.

“This is a very under-examined area and a very important one. We are using technology on a daily basis but we don’t understand its effect on us,” said Dr Hadlington.

How smartphones make us stupid
Smartphones are making us less able to think for ourselves, researchers have claimed.

A study has shown that people who have strong cognitive skills spend less time on their devices than those with less brain power.

Those who think in an analytical way also pick up their phone less frequently because they remember things or are able to work problems out for themselves.

The study said that smartphones were making people lazier than ever as we saw them as an ‘extension of our mind’.

Googling information we don’t know is replacing natural curiosity – a trend that will only get worse in the future.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and involved studying 660 people.

The findings showed a clear link between less time spent on the phone and stronger cognitive skills and greater willingness to think in an analytical way.