How Technology is Designed to Make You Smarter
As technologies continue to grow and evolve, studies and experts have honed in on how they can impact our daily lives. Amidst fears of emerging technologies like AI replacing humans, however, technological innovations can also be beneficial.
A Nature Human Behaviour study from 2021 suggests that the digital age may be making us smarter. Despite the negatives often associated with smart technology — whether tech neck, texting and driving, or blue light exposure — researchers believe smart technology supplements thinking, helping people excel.
The study insists that, despite the headlines, no scientific evidence shows that smartphones and digital technology harm biological cognitive abilities.
Instead, researchers highlighted how smartphones and digital technology change how we engage our biological cognitive skills, allowing people to free up brain energy or other resources for other essential tasks.
Beyond straightforwardly functional technologies like smartphones, other studies have also shown that tech for entertainment, such as gaming, may also have cognitive benefits
Below, we’ll take a look at how gaming platforms and apps can help keep people stimulated cognitively:
Gaming platforms
Today, different kinds of gaming platforms offer cognitive stimulation for people. In fact, even games that aren’t marketed as “educational” or “learning games” can benefit players.
For example, our list of “6 Entertaining Games To Try At Your Next Friends Gathering” highlighted casino card games like poker, blackjack, bridge, and more. Today, poker remains a timeless American card game.
Aside from being good fun with friends and family, poker is also the perfect game for people who enjoy gambling. Some cognitive benefits of playing poker include critical thinking, self-control, emotional control, and memory enhancement.
By now, technology has made card games more convenient and accessible for players regardless of where they’re playing from.
While online poker in Texas remains a gray area due to the lack of state-licensed sites, players can still join poker rooms hosted by trusted global sites.
Online poker operator Americas Cardroom facilitates various digital poker rooms and tournaments for players in Texas and across the US, and practices responsible gaming to prioritize players’ well-being.
This includes time-outs and capping tournament buy-ins with stop losses to ensure players game responsibly.
Other non-educational and non-learning games that benefit players’ cognitive abilities include action games like Call of Duty. Previous research has shown that action games such as first-person shooters can exercise perceptual attention with immediate feedback in varying situations.
A 2023 study also found that action gamers possess superior visual acuity compared to players of non-action games or non-gamers.
Visual acuity refers to seeing and recognizing objects clearly, and how well one’s eyes can focus on and identify things. Findings indicate that those who play action games — primarily first-person shooters — showed better visual acuity performance.
Apps
Beyond gaming platforms, one of the most accessible technologies today includes the apps on our smartphones and tablets.
Fortunately, depending on your lifestyle and the kinds of apps you enjoy, many are designed to help stimulate your brain, with some unexpected entries.
In 2014, the mobile app Flappy Bird went viral a year after its release. The side-scroller game is simple and straightforward, challenging players to fly the bird between columns of green pipes without hitting them.
Despite its simplicity and high demand for skill, the game became popular in discussions about “flow state.” According to Olympic athletes, the “flow state” is a mindset when an athlete can effortlessly let things happen as they are completely absorbed in and focused on what they are doing.
In this case, it would be flying Flappy Bird without hitting the pipes.
If this seems like a novel concept, the concept of “flow state” or zen is also applied to things beyond gaming, such as sports, creative endeavors like painting, or everyday activities such as reading or listening to music.
Flappy Bird is also not the first app to encourage “flow state.” Older games such as Tetris have long been associated with their ability to get players fully focused and “in the zone.”
Another type of app that is engineered to stimulate one’s cognitive abilities is mindfulness and self-improvement apps.
Headspace was founded in 2010 and started as an event company that held mindfulness talks. Later, the Headspace app began providing guided meditation resources online, further expanding its offerings through the years.
This includes new focus areas such as health, performance, and relationships, as well as a themed mindfulness series to boost engagement.
In 2023, Headspace revenue and usage statistics indicate the app made an estimated $195 million, with 2.8 million subscribers recorded. The app is often credited for helping users across various demographics stay focused or calm in different situations.
So, while it may sometimes feel like technology is deterring or distracting us from our fullest potential, this isn’t necessarily the case. By properly using the right technologies, we can build on our cognitive skills and get smarter with their support.
