Smart technology has a lot of drawbacks, like tech neck, texting and driving, and blue light rays. However, there is a silver lining, according to Anthony Chemero, a social and behavioural scientist from the University of Cincinnati.
According to the UC philosophy and psychology professor who just co-authored an article asserting as much in Nature Human Behaviour, "Despite the headlines, there is no empirical evidence that suggests that smartphones and digital technology undermine our biological cognitive capacities."
In the article, Chemero and colleagues from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto discuss the development of the digital era and detail how the use of smart technology enhances thinking and helps us achieve success.
Instead, Chemero claims that "what cellphones and digital technology seem to do is change the manner in which we employ our biological cognitive capacities," adding that "these changes are actually cognitively helpful."
He cites the fact that, for instance, your smart phone understands how to get to the baseball stadium without you having to look for a map or ask for directions as an example of how technology frees up mental processing power for other tasks. The same is true in a professional setting: "In 2021, we won't be memorialising phone numbers or using a pen and paper to solve complex mathematical problems."
He claims that devices like computers, tablets, and smart phones serve as an adjunct, acting as instruments that are good at calculating, information storage, and information retrieval.
Additionally, according to the paper's primary author Lorenzo Cecutti, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, smart technology enhances decision-making abilities that we would find it difficult to achieve on our own. He claims that not only can using GPS on our phones get us there, but it also allows us to choose a route based on traffic conditions. "That would be difficult to do while driving around a new city."
The outcome is that we, augmented by our new tech, are truly strong enough to carry out much more complicated tasks than we had with our totally non biological abilities, according to Chemero. "You put all this technology) together with a naked human brain and you get something that's smarter," he continues.
New tech may have other negative effects, but "making us stupid is not among them," according to Chemero.
University of Toronto's Spike W.S. Lee is a co-author on the study.
