{"id":2057,"date":"2016-08-08T16:51:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T20:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?p=2057"},"modified":"2016-08-20T21:12:42","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T01:12:42","slug":"smart-phones-laptops-effect-smartness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2016\/08\/smart-phones-laptops-effect-smartness\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Phones, Laptops, and Their Effect on Your Smartness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kashif<\/a>

Kashif Shaikh, MD, is the 2016-17 Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t spoil the movie with your own soundtrack.\u201d Remember hearing this message before the beginning of a movie in a theater and how most people turn their devices on silent to watch the movie? The cost of the movie ticket is considerably less than the cost of medical education, but I wonder if learners consider this phenomenon when they walk into their classrooms. Is the habit of smart phones in our daily lives so engrained that we aren\u2019t even\u00a0aware of the distraction? Or is it that the learners get distracted unintentionally while they are looking for answers?<\/p>\n

Recently, after giving several lectures to medical students and residents, I noted that most people in my audience checked their phones at some point. Noticeably, some attendees didn\u2019t have their phones on silent and answered their phones while walking out of the lecture. People\u00a0commonly check emails, browse the internet, and send text messages during lectures and meetings.\u00a0Why are learners\u00a0so distracted by technology, and what is its effect on learning?<\/p>\n

I\u00a0found a few papers\u00a0on the effects of smart phones on learning:<\/p>\n