Smartphone Use and Lazy Thinking Linked

[Guest_Jim_*]

Some of you may have seen this coming, but according to researchers at the University of Waterloo, there is a link between smartphone use and weaker cognitive abilities. More specifically, the use of search engines as social media and entertainment applications showed no such link.

 

According to the researchers' study, which involved 660 people, it relates to the kind of thinker we are. Intuitive thinkers, who rely on gut feelings and instincts, are more likely to turn to search engines on our smartphones than putting in the cognitive effort to arrive at an answer. Analytical thinkers however, who are more likely to second-guess themselves and apply logic to a problem, were less likely to turn to the search engines in our pockets and purses. This indicates a link between heavy smartphone use and lower intelligence, but whether smartphone use actually impacts intelligence is still to be determined.

 

This research aligns with previous work indicating that humans try to avoid effort when solving problems, so using smartphones as an extended mind makes sense. How this may affect our psychology is still to be determined though.

 

Source: University of Waterloo

[ET3D]

Lazy researchers come up with lazy title, cause stupid PC users to grow smug.

 

Assuming for a second that their research holds water, it should be titled "heavy search engine use linked to lower intelligence". Unless the researchers can show that this link doesn't hold for PC users, it makes no sense to link it specifically to phones.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Most people have constant, easy access to their phones, as we tend to keep them in our pockets or purses, but not to desktops and laptops. This would make the link more apparent with phone use than PC use. As they may not have done the research with relation to PCs, it would be inappropriate for them to state, one way or the other, if the link also exists with PCs. The link may indeed exist, but it would still be easier to find with phones. Perhaps as part of continued research, they or another group of researchers will investigate the same link with PCs.

[ET3D]

Perhaps so, but they categorically stated that the link is to searching only, not to social network use or anything else. Analytical thinkers may be using smartphones just as much, they just use search engines less. So the link is not tied at all to "smartphone use" and the title is very misleading.