We’ve always wondered whether incessant iPhone use was slowly destroying our ability to function IRL. If South Korea is any indication, it just might be.
Across the plastic-surgery-happy peninsula, some people are developing digital dementia, or “a deterioration in cognitive abilities that is more commonly seen in people who have suffered a head injury or psychiatric illness,” according to the Telegraph.
South Koreans are using digital devices more and more, with 18.4 percent of teens somehow finding the time to be riveted to the screen for more than seven hours a day, the Telegraph reports. This leads to over-development of the left side of the brain, while the right side lags behind.
Allowing the right side of your brain to shrivel can lead to issues with concentration, attention and memory, as well as emotional underdevelopment, especially in children, the Telegraph reports.
It may come as a surprise that almost twice as many Korean youngsters use smartphones than Americans do, 64 percent to the U.S.’s 37 percent. Still, that number will likely continue to balloon as our concentration skills and attention spans shrink. But at least here in the U.S. of A. we’ve got good ol’ Big Pharma — because medicating adolescents never ends badly!