The concept that smartphones make us dumber is an oversimplification, I suppose, but sometimes I wonder. Distracted is probably closer to the truth. Folks don’t fall off cliffs, wreck cars, or walk into an oncoming truck because they’re dumb; they’re just distracted. Cognition is complex, and intelligence probably can’t be eroded by constantly scrolling your Facebook feed. However, there is evidence that compulsive phone use is indeed dangerous.
Smartphones impair attention and memory when overused. One study suggests that even the presence of a smartphone nearby can reduce cognitive ability. Social media apps are designed to hijack dopamine, exploit the brain’s reward system, and encourage compulsive behavior. Scrolling through Facebook, X, or TikTok for hours on end doesn’t require any critical thinking; it only requires time, your most valuable asset.
“How did it get so late so soon?” ~ Dr. Seuss
The brain adapts to what you feed it, and endless bite-sized content weakens your patience for complex tasks, but that’s more of a habit than a loss of intelligence. Smartphones create a digital fantasyland by curating a highly personalized world with algorithms that serve you content that reinforces your biases and beliefs. It can feel like a dungeon, however, when you’re trapped in a cycle of outrage inside your echo chamber, with apps designed to keep you there.
The average user spends 2-3 hours a day on social media. Apps exploit your psychological vulnerabilities. It’s less about the technology itself and more about intentional design choices prioritizing engagement over mental health. In the last decade, increasing mental distress and treatment for mental health conditions among youth in North America have paralleled a steep rise in the use of smartphones and social media by children and adolescents.
Research shows that smartphones are making us dumber, less social, more forgetful, prone to addiction, sleepless, and depressed. So why are we giving them to children? Social media platforms have been deliberately designed in highly sophisticated ways that use psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to promote behavioral reinforcement and addiction. I have witnessed children so addicted to Roblox that it reminded me of cigarette smokers and heroin junkies.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” ~ Aristotle
Children’s brains are still in the developmental stage and are easily hooked by the constant stimuli of completing digital quests and earning virtual currency. Excessive play is linked to numerous behavioral issues, including sleep problems, academic performance, and social withdrawal. Kids don’t have a functioning prefrontal cortex. They can’t self-regulate, which is why it is so important for parents to limit time on these apps and not use them in negotiations.
Better yet, take your kids fishing, hiking, or bike riding. Allowing them to sit in their room twiddling with an iPad while you kick back on the couch scrolling memes is a recipe for disaster. Evidence from a variety of empirical studies implicates smartphone and social media use in the increase in mental distress, self-injurious behavior, and suicidality among youth. There is a dose–response relationship, and social media can affect adolescents’ self-view and interpersonal relationships. Social media content often involves normalization and even promotion of self-harm and suicide among youth.
High proportions of youth engage in heavy smartphone use and media multitasking, with resultant chronic sleep deprivation, and negative effects on cognitive control, academic performance, and socioemotional functioning. Several studies have shown that high proportions of youth appear to be addicted to their smartphones. The typical smartphone owner interacts with their phone an average of 85 times per day.
I recently went on a week-long wilderness camping adventure in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Back when I was a kid, going into the wilderness meant the possibility of getting lost or running into a marauding bear, or a mountain lion, or even that most dangerous critter of all, Mephitis mephitis ( striped skunk). In the present paradigm, the definition of wilderness has changed. Disconnected is the new wilderness.
“I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.” ~ Aldo Leopold
I found it quite refreshing, though, to put my phone in the glovebox and leave it there while I went fishing and hiking. I’m probably not any dumber than I was 15 years ago when I got my first smartphone. However, I recognize that these handy-dandy, do-all devices can become digital prisons. So I take every opportunity to leave mine on a shelf or in a drawer, leaving me disconnected, wild, and free.