You know you should spend less time on your devices, but you just can’t resist. That could be because the more time you spend on your devices, the less willpower you have. Got that?
According to TIME magazine, “people who spend a lot of time ‘media multitasking’—or juggling lots of different websites, apps, programs or other digital stimuli—tend to have less grey matter in a part of their brain involved with thought and emotion control. These same structural changes are associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders.”
Could it be that people who digital multitask have less willpower to start with? Perhaps, but TIME goes on to explain that “lots of device use bombards your brain’s prefrontal cortex, which plays a big role in willpower and decision-making.”
So the more you use your smartphone, the less smart you become.
If loss of grey matter doesn’t worry you, how about loss of efficiency?
Every time you leave a task to check a message or a text, there’s a switch cost. It can take your brain 15 to 20 minutes to get back to where it was before you distracted yourself.
Now that you are finished reading this post, read the full article, You Asked: Are My Devices Messing with My Brain?, here.