Researchers found people who rely on smartphones are less analytical and logical.
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Smartphones reliers are ‘lazier thinkers’: study

People who rely on their smartphones as a source of information are “essentially lazier thinkers,” according to a study from the University of Waterloo. “They are more prone to using their intuition and they are less analytical and logical when they reason, says study co-author Gordon Pennycook, a doctoral student in the psychology department.

“It seems that people are using the smartphone to make up for the fact that they are more lazy in the way that they think,” he adds, but more research needs to be done to find out if that has long-term consequence for the way that they think.

ListenThe research does not say heavy use of the smartphone causes lazy thinking. Pennycook says there is much more research to be done on this and other issues.For example, is it possible that people who store information in their phones instead of in their memories may not be as able to access it for creative thinking. And does extensive use of smartphones affect the development of young brains?

Long term use of smartphones would need decades to study, he adds. Pennycook is concerned that scientists will run out of time and that soon people won’t remember what thinking was like before the devices he calls “brains in your pocket” became ubiquitous.

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