Smartphone users’ thumbs are reshaping their brains

Smartphones may not make us innately smarter. But they are reshaping the way our brains respond to touch. A new study shows that compared with people who use push-button cell phones, smartphone users have greater brain activity when their thumb, index and middle fingers are touched. The finding, published December 23 in Current Biology, suggests that using smartphones forces the brain to update its representation of our fingertips every day, and it offers clues to how daily activities are continuously reshaping the brain.