New research suggests the incessant touching of our smartphones is making our thumbs extra sensitive, UPI reported. The human sciences are only just starting to catch up to technology, only scratching the surface on the ways smartphone use and Internet addiction affect our relationships -- how we interact, behave, raise our children. A new neuroscience study, on the other hand, seems to offer a more definitive conclusion -- our smartphone use is changing our brain -- specifically the connection between our thumb tips and brain. Researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, monitored the brains of study participants mechanically touching their thumb, index and middle fingertips. Those who regularly used smartphones (compared to those who still use older mobile phones) showed greater brain activity in areas connected to touch when their fingers were stimulated.
