If you love using your smartphone to be smart rather than work harder here are tips for you. Your smartphone can help you to engage in activities that enhance, rather than impede your brain function, and ultimately help you stay mentally agile throughout your life. The trick is to balance the entertaining and distracting activities you can do with necessary purposes, and finding time for pursuits that engage your mind.
How are smartphones good for our brains? We can learn new things, teach new things to others; meet and converse with people all over the world. We can get and give advice; share our opinion of products; get recommendations. We can use smartphones to buy and sell things, travel to places we have never seen, and so much more.
You probably use your smartphone or computer for various tasks throughout your day. However, with the use of technology, there’s a fine line between productive and counter-productive use.
Unfortunately, the converse of having access to a world of information and tech-based “shortcuts” is that we can become engulfed by it all, and even desensitized to what we see, hear and read on the internet. Think about what you were impressed by as a kid, and how today’s children are likely to not react to many things due to being inundated with ideas and stimulation thanks to smartphones, tablets, computers, and game consoles.
Some suggestions for using tech to engage your mind and boost your brainpower
Practice careful communication. Shortcuts are convenient, but they sometimes work against us when we engage in hurried, sloppy, or even over-communication. Before you hit send, as yourself: am I conveying clear, complete thoughts? Or should I wait until all information is available before sending my message? Also question whether whatever you are relaying is necessary and important. If not, you might be wasting someone’s time, as well as your own.
Use your smartphone to help you set and achieve goals
Our fanciful and easily distracted brains can go in any direction when hit with so much information and sensory input online. Give your brain an incredible gift by fully pursuing whatever interests you that you find online. For instance, if you’re viewing videos of people who refurbish barbecue grills, then take your interest to the next level. Use what you find online to outline the steps needed to do the project yourself. Then follow through and make it happen! Watch our video How to Journal on an iPhone to learn how.
Become aware of passive versus active smartphone use
Scrolling through your social media feed is great, and it helps to feel connected to others when you can view pictures of what they and their families and friends are up to. But don’t let your late-night Facebook habits become the standard for how you connect in your relationships. Giving out thumbs-ups on a friend’s status update is a start, but make it a priority to actually meet up with and spend quality time engaging in real-life, face-to-face conversations and active pursuits with friends.
Be mindful of the hours you spend online. If we are all walking around with smartphones in hand, that means that instead of our minds absorbing sensory input from the physical world, we are mentally buried in passive pursuits. Imagine how computer and smartphone addiction might affect seniors as they age. Consider how you might change your daily practices with regard to hours spent looking at and checking your phone. How is this impacting your mind’s ability to process information, relate and connect with others? What will the effects of this be years from now?
Access to all of the ideas and information on the internet gives us incredible power. This power can be tapped to greatly enhance our mental capacity. We can develop our talents and skills, live the way we want, and claim our personal power. Computers can help us give meaning and purpose to our lives, and that begins by engaging our minds. You can use computers to make real connections, discover new things, develop skills, and feed your brain. Or you can use it as a passive observer of other people who is doing the things you want to do. The choice to change your mind for the better is yours!
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