Is technology damaging our brains?

As I am sure you are all aware, our present generation is technologically addicted.

This morning, 70% of us were on our phones within 30 minutes of waking up, and we will be surrounded by individuals typing away on laptops throughout the day.

However, there is growing worry about the extent to which technology is integrated into our daily life. Is it possible that technology is damaging our brains?

As time goes on, technology is making the world a much smaller place, yet connecting us so much easier than it has ever done — yet it looks to be harming our face-to-face encounters.

According to one study, strangers in a waiting room together smiled less towards each other when their phones were there. A further study, again focusing on social contact, found that talks with phones present were of inferior quality, with participants expressing fewer levels of empathy, diminishing the claimed closeness between participants.

While our phones may be intelligent, there are concerns that technology is impairing human intelligence. Everyone knows that if you want to be productive, you should turn off your phone, but a study conducted in this context found that simply being able to view your phone decreases cognitive capacity.