The effect of smartphone use on mental effort, learning, and creativity

Jaan Aru; Dmitri Rozgonjuk

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.07.002

The effect of smartphone use on mental effort, learning, and creativity

Trends Cogn Sci. 2022 Oct;26(10):821-823. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.07.002. Epub 2022 Jul 27.

Authors

Jaan Aru¹, Dmitri Rozgonjuk²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address: jaan.aru@gmail.com.
² Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: dmitri.rozgonjuk@ut.ee.

PMID: 35907700
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.07.002

Abstract

We argue that scientific studies have not directly assessed the key cognitive processes affected by smartphone use. We propose that smartphone use can be disruptively habitual, with the main detrimental consequence being an inability to exert prolonged mental effort. This inability might negatively affect real-life creativity and domain-specific knowledge acquisition.

Keywords: cognitive effort; creativity; habitual behavior; mental effort; smartphones.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Creativity*
Humans
Learning
Smartphone*