shocking, given that only 4.5 billion have access to a working toilet.

So how are these popular gadgets changing your body and brain?

If you’re looking down at your phone right now, your spine angle is equivalent to that

of an 8 year old child sitting on your neck - which is fairly significant considering

people spend an average of 4.7 hours a day looking at their phone.

This, combined with the length of time spent in front of computers has led to an increase in the prevalence of

myopia or nearsightedness in North America. In the 1970s about ¼ of the population had

myopia, where today nearly half do; and in some parts of Asia, 80-90% of the population

is now nearsighted.

And it can be hard to put your phone down - take for example the game Candy Crush.

As you play the game, you achieve small goals causing your brain to be rewarded with little

bursts of dopamine - and eventually you rewarded the game with new content. This novelty also

gives little bursts of dopamine and together create what is known as a ‘compulsion loop’

- which just happens to be the same loop responsible for the behaviours associated with nicotine

or cocaine. Our brains are hard-wired to make us novelty seeking, and this is why apps on

our phones are designed to constantly provide us with new content, making them hard to put

down.

As a result, 93% of young people aged 18-29 report using their smartphones as a tool to

avoid boredom, as opposed to other activities like reading a book or engaging with people

around them. This has created the new term ‘nomophobia’ - the fear or anxiety of

being without your phone.

We also see a change in brain patterns: alpha rhythms are commonly associated with ‘wakeful

relaxation’ like when your mind wanders off, whereas gamma waves are associated with

conscious attentiveness. And experiments have shown that when a cell phone is transmitting

- say during a phone call - the power of these alpha waves is significantly boosted, meaning

phone transmissions can literally change the way your brain functions.

Your smartphone can also disrupt your sleep! The screen emits a blue light which has been

shown to alter our circadian rhythms, diminishing the time spent in deep sleep, which is linked

to the development of diabetes, cancer and obesity. Studies have shown that people who

read on their smartphone at night have a harder time falling asleep and produce less melatonin

- a hormone responsible for the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. Harvard medical school

advises the last 2-3 hours before bed be ‘technology’ free, so pick up a book before bed instead.

Of course, smartphones also completely change our ability to access information - most notably

in poor and minority populations. 7% of Americans are entirely dependent on smartphones for

their access to the internet. A 2014 study found that the majority of smartphone owners

use their phone for online banking, to look up medical information and searching for jobs.

So while phones are in no way exclusively bad, and have been a part of positive change

in the world, there’s no denying that they are changing us.

But, many successful people have now decided to take “smartphone vacations” in order

to increase productivity. In our new AsapTHOUGHT video we break down the top 6 reasons you

should take a smartphone vacation, and how it could benefit your life right now.

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