--- title: Smartphone Use Makes Your Brain More Sensitive to Touch description: New study finds that brain activity is enhanced the more we thumb our devices canonical: https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/ author: Per Liljas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-25T04:23:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:07:43.511Z article:section: Science og:title: Smartphone Use Makes Brains More Sensitive to Touch og:description: New study finds that brain activity is enhanced the more we thumb our devices. og:url: https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b250f04b3fc160d/6987773f35ba6ffba6c0633c/181281527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1255 og:image:height: 706 og:image:alt: Apple Launches iPhone 5s And 5c In China og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Smartphone Use Makes Brains More Sensitive to Touch twitter:description: New study finds that brain activity is enhanced the more we thumb our devices. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b250f04b3fc160d/6987773f35ba6ffba6c0633c/181281527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Smartphone Use Makes Your Brain More Sensitive to Touch > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Dec 25, 2014 4:23 AM UTC  A customer inspects the new iPhone at the Wangfujing flagship store on September 20, 2013 in Beijing, China. A customer inspects the new iPhone at the Wangfujing flagship store on September 20, 2013 in Beijing, China. Lintao Zhang—Getty by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Dec 25, 2014 4:23 AM UTC Swiping fingers across a smartphone screen [can make](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/12/24/thumbing-around-on-a-smartphone-makes-your-brain-more-sensitive-to-touch-study-says/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm%5Ftwitter%5Fwashingtonpost) the brain more sensitive to the touch of the finger tips, a new study suggests. The study, published in _Current Biology_ this week, shows that brain response to thumb stimulation is partly explained by how often people use their smartphones, reports the Washington _Post_. “I was really surprised by the scale of the changes introduced by the use of smartphones,” said Arko Ghosh, one of the study’s authors from the Institute of Neuroinformatics at the University of Zurich. Researchers recorded brain activity when people touched their thumbs, index and middle fingers to a mechanical object. Smartphone users broadcasted increased activity compared to non-smartphone users, and the activity was boosted the more people used their devices. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/12/24/thumbing-around-on-a-smartphone-makes-your-brain-more-sensitive-to-touch-study-says/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm%5Ftwitter%5Fwashingtonpost)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/"},"headline":"Smartphone Use Makes Your Brain More Sensitive to Touch","datePublished":"2014-12-25T04:23:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:07:43.511Z","description":"New study finds that brain activity is enhanced the more we thumb our devices","url":"https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/","keywords":["Biology","Research","smartphone"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b250f04b3fc160d/6987773f35ba6ffba6c0633c/181281527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b250f04b3fc160d/6987773f35ba6ffba6c0633c/181281527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apple Launches iPhone 5s And 5c In China","caption":"Apple Launches iPhone 5s And 5c In China","creditText":"Lintao Zhang—Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/biology/","name":"Biology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3647036/smartphone-brain-sensitive/","name":"Smartphone Use Makes Your Brain More Sensitive to Touch"}}]}] ```