How can your smartphone make you dumb? It literally has all the answer to to every question you ever have. Well, according to research carried out for the University of Texas, even having your phone in the same room as you makes you stupider... even if it is switched off.
Adrian Ward, leader of the study, told the Telegraph, "Although these devices have immense potential to improve welfare, their persistent presence may come at a cognitive cost." Apparently, even knowing that your phone is the room is a distraction, taking up vital brain power. You might have it switched off in your bag (as you might do at school or at work), but just knowing it is there with the potential to be switched on can reduce you focus on other tasks, making you less effective.
Ward continued, with: "We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, participants' available cognitive capacity decreases. Your conscious mind isn't thinking about your smartphone, but that process - the process of requiring yourself not to think about something - uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It's a brain drain."
So there you go - even owning a phone makes you thick. Sure, you might be able to quickly answer the question "what else has she been in?", but it'll come at a terrible price. What has happened to us?