Using the internet is physically changing our brains so that we have shorter attention spans and worse memory, a major study has suggested. A review by academics from Oxford, King's College London, Harvard and Western Sydney University, found that smartphones were also replacing our ability to remember facts, while tricking us into thinking we are smarter than we actually are. Unsplash Increased smartphone use is physically changing the human brain, a new study suggests. Experiments reviewed in the study showed that people who spent their time constantly flipping between short activities online "require greater cognitive effort to maintain concentration". As well as being a distraction, the study found evidence that the internet was also becoming an "external memory" as people rely more on smartphones for information.

Source: Stuff June 07, 2019 02:26 UTC