Brain scans show how 30 days without a phone transformed one man’s mind
It's rather frightening when you think how reliant most people are on their phones, as it's not just social media but so much of our lives and jobs are tethered to the six-inch device that's never too far from our hands.
Of course, with that comes all of the conveniences of having a phone, as you're never too far away from a camera, calculator, or access to just about every piece of information you'd ever need, and you can almost always chat to your friends and family wherever you are in the world.
The downsides aren't too hard to find though, as not only do you have to consider the negative effects of how long so many people spend on social media, but how much we use our phones can actually have a harmful effect on our relationships.
That's why some people have decided to go cold turkey and cut their phone out completely – even just for a short period of time – and the transformation that it can have on your health and cognitive capabilities are quite remarkable.
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As reported by LADbible, American content creator and YouTuber Andrew Feinstein did just that, conducting a brain scan both before and after he literally locked his phone away for an entire month.
Before the experiment began he was greeted with some worrying results, as he scored the lowest percentile when it came to keeping his attention on one particular thing — perhaps a by-product of how much information we're always being served on social media.
The tests also showed high activity in areas such as social anxiety, issues with sleeping, and even depression, all of which are commonly associated with phone-related addictions.
It's miraculous quite how much just a month can change though, as while he still did experience some symptoms of anxiety, alongside sickness and issues with travel that naturally crop up when you remove easy access to maps, his test scores showed how much his brain had transformed.
The doctor conducting the tests declared that it was the biggest and best transformation he'd seen so far, as his scores dramatically improved, especially in areas such as attention span and impulse control.
How much we'd see similar results of our own depends on each person's individual phone usage, but other instances of 'tech detoxes' across social media have proven that this isn't a one-off, and you might want to consider taking a break from your phone soon, even if it's just for a short while.