Are Smartphones Really Making People Smarter?

In today’s world, holding a smartphone is more than just holding a mobile phone. It is more like holding the whole world in one’s hand because those devices are not called ‘smart’ for nothing, they are indeed very key to the massive transformation in our world over the last decade.

I don't know how people raised kids without TVs, laptops and smartphones… If that makes me a bad mother so he it 😊

— Heleen van Niekerk (@NiekerkHeleen) September 24, 2018

That darling device you hold in your hands and use for most of your duties is also in the hands of more than 2.5 billion people in the world. As such smartphones are gaining so much ground because of the many amazing things that could be done with them. From its design and interface to its functions, smartphones have continued to evolve – making life easier and becoming smarter, but in doing this have they made we the users any smarter?

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Are Smartphone users getting any smarter? YES?

To a large extent, many people will say yes! Being smart has to do with being mentally alert, calculative and resourceful and with the many features smartphones possess, it is obviously the best medium to become so.

Smartphones makes smart people? pic.twitter.com/72MeUEYj0a

— Alfonso Fernández V (@alfonsoferva) November 2, 2013

According to blogger, Idris, “the apps and the emphasis to download the only useful apps, means people have to read and keep up with what’s hot, trendy and important.”

Also, the average smartphone user understands one or two things about how tech works, especially as regards the features of the smartphone.

For instance, users know that the lower the RAM, the lesser functions the phone will perform and the longer the time it will take to perform them. User also know that low Mega Pixels equals low image quality – which would have been abstract to an average person 12 years ago.

Are Smartphone Users Getting Any Smarter? NO?

I thought smartphones were meant to make you smarter, how come it is making people more stupid?

— Oviosun Justin (@justinoviosun) October 21, 2013

While many people may agree that smartphones are making smarter people, some others disagree. One outstanding reason is that overtime, people are coming to ‘over rely’ on this smart device. Situations that require a person’s ability to think, interpret, and solve an unfamiliar problem becomes tough to scale.

Our smartphones are smart but making us dumber….people are adicted to them and now have a dependancy but it's muting our brains….like the TV has done. They are literally turning us off

— carl devitt / [email protected] Fitt / DOuC 'ORDO AB CHAO' (@CarlDevitt) March 1, 2018

According to Wale, a smartphone user, “it boils down to our laziness though, many people don’t use their smartphones to develop themselves.”

Another reason why smartphones might be making people less smart is social interaction. Many people get too accustomed to the various social platforms offered on smartphones which in turn tends to impede their attention, reasoning and performance outside the virtual confines of a smartphone.

In Conclusion

I may not be THAT smart, but my phone is. SmartPhones making people look smarter since 2003

— Lucid (@ChristhePher) November 13, 2013

In the real sense, smartphones are just ‘mobile computing devices with good features’ that provide us with lots of information and resources to make us smarter. Very much like a scalar quantity (content but no direction). So what an individual does with the phone would determine if he or she would be smarter, not the device itself.

This means that the smartphone with its ocean of features would make you as smart as you want only if you want. Otherwise, it’s just like every other mobile phone.

So in your opinion, do you think smartphones have made humans any smarter? Drop your comments below!