With the advancement of technology over the past few years, there’s no doubt that the perspective of our lives has shifted tremendously. One form of technology that made a significant impact in our life is the emergence of smartphones. There’s no doubt that the smartphone has become our new best friend.
Thanks to smartphones, we can browse and connect to the Internet wherever we are. We can gather a lot of information too. It also enables us to perform work seamlessly. There’s no doubt that smartphones are incredibly handy not just because of their sizes but also because of the convenience.
However, the downside of having a smartphone is that we have become lazier than before. We’ve become so heavily dependent on smartphones that we’ve started to neglect all the things we’re capable of doing. Besides, smartphones have begun taking a toll on our health and well-being.
Here are the ways in which smartphones make us lazy
GPS Degrades Memory
We cannot name the number times we’re incredibly thankful for the invention of the GPS. GPS enables us to travel the world and explore new places without getting lost. With just one search of the site, we can tell which way to go. It’s incredibly convenient, isn’t it? You don’t have to worry about getting lost anymore!
However, it also appears that GPS is suppressing a great ability we have. That is our mind’s ability to store memories and memorize things. It also eliminates your ability to feel and immerse yourself in new surroundings. Gone are the days when you had to memorize famous landmarks, signs, streets, and stoplights. You’re also losing your ability to have a sense of direction because, who cares if you already have a GPS, right?
It shortens our attention span
Do you find yourself browsing the Internet for some powerful tips on how to eliminate distraction? Perhaps you’re browsing on how to enhance your focus and concentration? If you do, then it’s a sign that technology and smartphones have killed your ability to stay focused on one task at a time.
While the smartphone somehow give us a supernatural feeling and power of being able to multitask, unfortunately, it’s the exact opposite in the real world. By browsing the Internet, listening to music, and texting, you’ll lose your focus. You may argue that it ables you to concentrate, but nothing could be farther from the truth.
And when you try to apply it in the real world, it just wouldn’t work. You’ll find yourself either slacking off and just browsing social media every day without getting your tasks done. If you want to be productive enough, keep that phone away at the workplace.
You Kill Your Analytical and Deductive Reasoning Ability
What do you do when you encounter a word, a term, or anything you’re not familiar with? What’s the first thing you do? I bet your answer would be: Google! In fact, we often heard the phrase,
“Google is your friend.”
True enough, Google has become our best friend for the past decade or so. It is our source of information whenever we need it. Further, it’s our problem solver whenever we’re out to analyze something. In fact, it automates almost all of the cognitive process we need to learn as we grow.
While Google is beneficial, became a great use and advantage to us, it kills our capabilities as human beings. We’re so busy creating apps to do things for us that we’ve become rusty.
Our mind is not intelligent enough to process information critically. We’re not geared up for analyzing things anymore. Our minds cannot deduct what’s right or wrong because we’re too busy letting Google decide things for us. Maybe, the prophecy that the robot will dominate the world someday will come true if we continue allowing our laziness to take over.