shocking, given that only 4.5 billion have access to a working toilet.

考慮到地球上只有四十五億人有廁所可以使用，卻有六十億人擁有手機，實在很讓人驚訝。

So how are these popular gadgets changing your body and brain?

所以這些大受歡迎的小玩意兒，是如何影響你們的身體和大腦呢？

If you’re looking down at your phone right now, your spine angle is equivalent to that

如果你此刻正在低頭划手機，你脊椎彎曲的角度已經等同於

of an 8 year old child sitting on your neck - which is fairly significant considering

一個八歲小孩坐在你脖子上。有相當大量的人

people spend an average of 4.7 hours a day looking at their phone.

每天平均花4.7小時看他們的手機。

This, combined with the length of time spent in front of computers has led to an increase in the prevalence of

看手機的時間，再加上坐在電腦前的時間，造成

myopia or nearsightedness in North America. In the 1970s about ¼ of the population had

在北美地區有越來越多人近視。1970年代，大約四分之一的人口有近視，

myopia, where today nearly half do; and in some parts of Asia, 80-90% of the population

然而現今已經將近一半的人近視了。在一些亞洲地區，總人口數的80-90%近視。

is now nearsighted.

And it can be hard to put your phone down - take for example the game Candy Crush.

並且，你也很難放下你的手機，拿手機遊戲 Candy Crush 來舉例。

As you play the game, you achieve small goals causing your brain to be rewarded with little

當你開始玩遊戲，達成一個小目標會使你的頭腦覺得受到獎勵而分泌

bursts of dopamine - and eventually you rewarded the game with new content. This novelty also

多巴胺，這最終會使你得到新的滿足感。這種新奇的感覺也

gives little bursts of dopamine and together create what is known as a ‘compulsion loop’

會促使分泌多巴胺，然後一起製造所謂的「強制循環」

- which just happens to be the same loop responsible for the behaviours associated with nicotine

就像是跟尼古丁或古柯鹼相關的行為所造成的循環一樣。

or cocaine. Our brains are hard-wired to make us novelty seeking, and this is why apps on

我們的大腦本能地讓我們找新奇的東西，這就是為何我們手機上的那些應用程式

our phones are designed to constantly provide us with new content, making them hard to put

不斷提供我們新的滿足感，讓我們很難放下這些應用程式。

down.

As a result, 93% of young people aged 18-29 report using their smartphones as a tool to

因此 93% 年齡在18 到 29 歲的年輕人把他們的智慧型手機當成避免無聊的工具，

avoid boredom, as opposed to other activities like reading a book or engaging with people

而不是從事其他活動像是讀書，或和周圍的人互動。

around them. This has created the new term ‘nomophobia’ - the fear or anxiety of

因此新詞彙「無手機恐懼症」應運而生，意指沒有手機就感到

being without your phone.

恐懼或焦慮。

We also see a change in brain patterns: alpha rhythms are commonly associated with ‘wakeful

我們也看到了大腦的改變：α 節律和人「清醒放鬆」有關連，

relaxation’ like when your mind wanders off, whereas gamma waves are associated with

就像當你在恍神，但你的伽馬波仍跟意識注意力有關。

conscious attentiveness. And experiments have shown that when a cell phone is transmitting

而且根據研究顯示，當手機在傳送訊號時，

- say during a phone call - the power of these alpha waves is significantly boosted, meaning

α 節律會明顯地增強，表示

phone transmissions can literally change the way your brain functions.

手機訊號會確實地影響我們大腦的用途。

Your smartphone can also disrupt your sleep! The screen emits a blue light which has been

你的智慧型手機也會干擾你的睡眠！手機螢幕發射出的藍光，

shown to alter our circadian rhythms, diminishing the time spent in deep sleep, which is linked

改變我們的生理時鐘，減少深層睡眠時間，

to the development of diabetes, cancer and obesity. Studies have shown that people who

這可能導致糖尿病、癌症、肥胖。研究顯示

read on their smartphone at night have a harder time falling asleep and produce less melatonin

在晚上用智慧型手機的人比較難以入眠，並且製造較少的褪黑激素。

- a hormone responsible for the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. Harvard medical school

褪黑激素是掌管規律睡眠的賀爾蒙。哈佛醫學院建議，

advises the last 2-3 hours before bed be ‘technology’ free, so pick up a book before bed instead.

睡前 2 到 3 小時不要使用任何科技產品，可以讀個書來代替。

Of course, smartphones also completely change our ability to access information - most notably

當然，智慧型手機也完全改變了我們獲取新知識的能力，特別是窮人跟一些少數族群。

in poor and minority populations. 7% of Americans are entirely dependent on smartphones for

7% 的美國人完全依靠智慧型手機來上網。

their access to the internet. A 2014 study found that the majority of smartphone owners

一份 2014 年的研究發現，大部份的智慧型手機用戶

use their phone for online banking, to look up medical information and searching for jobs.

用手機使用線上銀行、尋找醫療資訊、找工作。

So while phones are in no way exclusively bad, and have been a part of positive change

手機並不完全只有壞處，而且它也是世界上正向改變的一部份，

in the world, there’s no denying that they are changing us.

所以不用否認，智慧型手機正在改變我們。

But, many successful people have now decided to take “smartphone vacations” in order

但是，為了更高的產值，很多成功人士現在決定放一個「手機假」。

to increase productivity. In our new AsapTHOUGHT video we break down the top 6 reasons you

在我們新的 AsapTHOUGHT 影片裡，我們列出六個你應該放「手機假」的理由，

should take a smartphone vacation, and how it could benefit your life right now.

而且可以因此提升你的生活品質。

And subscribe for more weekly science videos

然後還可以訂閱更多的每週科學影片。