Smart Phone, Dumber You

Its the first thing you grab when you wake up and the last thing you touch at night (even after bae). You reach for it countless times in between, and panic if you leave it at home. You can become psychologically addicted to almost anything including, and perhaps especially, your phone, says Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT.

- Lisa Freedman

A smartphone is basically a mini dopamine factory, doling out hits of the feel-good brain chemical as a reward when you get Likes on social media or relieve boredom by scrolling Twitter. Unfortunately, ‘The dopamine system is not satiable, so you continue to crave more and more,’ says clinical psychologist Elyssa Barbash. That’s why the average person ends up reaching for their phone 80 times a day, according to one survey. (If you think this sounds low, same.) And chances are, you don’t love it. More than half of people between the ages of 18 and 24 are seeking relief from social media, according to a recent report.

Getting some distance is essential because new research suggests that small-screen obsessions are a major brain drain. Being attached to your phone (even if you’re not looking at it) can impair mental functions, sapping your working memory and your ability to perform tasks, according to a 2017 study. ‘Resisting your phone’s pull takes up cognitive resources,’ explains study coauthor Adria