A Neo-Classical Gymnasium

While dropping me to school for the very first time (the family car was “WBD 2987”), my parents made me repeat the following sentence several times (although illiterate, I could count): “My telephone number is 472784 and my grandparents’ number is 442740”. Half a century later, I remember those defunct numbers. But I have no clue what my current landline is. I have trouble recalling my cell #, though I have had it for 19 years. I have come close to being arrested once because I couldn’t recall my car number offhand.

You see, I don’t need to know these things so long as I remember to carry my phone. A smartphone, even a relatively dumb one like my two-year-old handset, is a ridiculously efficient secretary. Call, email, instant message, surf, Skype, Inst­agram; Swipe, long press, save, reply, delete—tell the virtual assistant what to do. It’s all easy and automatic. GPS-enabled map­ping and route-­finding are other magic functions, which lets me drive to unknown places. I don’t need to remember landmarks, know compass orientation, or indeed notice anything en route so long as I can survive the mad driver, who texts intently as he overtakes out of my blind spot.

I worry sometimes that constant smartphone use will lead to total memory atrophy, and kill my already-challenged directional sense. These instruments also encourage multi-tasking and that may mean shorter attention span. Many studies indicate that the regular flexing of mental muscles helps prevent dementia, mem­ory lapses and other ills associated with old age. So one could argue that a rise in smartphone penetration may mean the onset of quicker mental deterioration. Again arguably, it could mean poorer learning ability, or deterioration in analytical skills. Deep concentration is required to understand some things. Typical smartphone multi-tasking may erode the ability to concentrate deeply, or prevent the habit of concentration ever developing.

These are all potentially harmful effects. But there is also a hugely, indisputably positive side to smartphone use. Network permitting, a smartphone offers access to the world’s biggest men­tal gymnasium, aka the internet. There are also apps that turn the instrument into a combination library, games & puzzles compendium and learning tool. If you want to hone your mental sharpness, you can read challenging books. You can learn languages and develop computer programming skills. You can solve log­ic puzzles, crosswords and sudoku, and play challenging  games like scrabble, chess, bac­k­gammon and bridge. All on your handset.

There are phone apps—very good ones—for all sorts of games. So a silicon partner is available 24x7. Internet access also lets users play with humans, 24x7. Books can be downloaded and read via Kindle or other e-readers. A huge array of websites offer courses across mul­tiple disciplines in dozens of languages. Spa­nish? Calculus? Differential equations in Spanish? Search and sign up.

True, even the biggest smartphone/phablet is relatively small screen and not comfortable to use. But convenience trumps comfort. It’s easily carried. You can surf anywhere, whenever you have a few minutes to spare. On balance, rather than seeing a smartphone as a device that might lead to universal ‘dumbing down’, I think it’s a great tool for helping people effectively get smarter. The only thing is, anybody who wants to get smarter has to sweat for it. A smartphone offers more learning options and entertaining learning options at that. But that equation of ‘no sweat = ignorance’ hasn’t changed in the 24 centuries or so since Euclid supposedly said, “There is no royal road to learning.”

The author is a puzzle freak, quizzer, and chess-maniac.; E-mail your columnist: devangshu [AT] gmail [DOT] com