Smartphone addiction is ruining our brains

While there's been plenty of anecdotal evidence of smartphones impacting our mental health, recent medical studies are showing how smartphone addiction is literally rewiring our brains.

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Why It Hurts: Expert studies demonstrating how smartphones impact our attention spans, ability to regulate our emotions, and potential for productivity have wide-ranging implications including a growing no-phones-in-school movement, society's relationship with social media, and the legality of endless notifications.

Between the Ears: It appears that, yes, our phones are giving us "brainrot." A recent study out of South Korea found that there's a major increase in brain activity among those addicted to their smartphones people who spend hours a day on their devices and can't go a few minutes without checking them.

Citing the study, Brent Nelson, chief medical information officer for Newport Healthcare, said the activity shows that "the brain is working extra hard compared to a non-addicted brain when asked to do, actually, a pretty simple task."