The use of smartphone is decreasing our collective intelligence because we are reliant on the technology and not our own minds. To what extent do you agree or disagree.

It is argued that

people

's collective

intelligence

is negatively impacted by

smartphones

and they are overly relying on technology to solve problems rather than their own thinking. I disagree with

this

argument because it cannot be applied to all situations. The impacts of

smartphones

on

people

's collective

intelligence

are heavily depending on how they use them. If

smartphones

and related technologies are used as communication platforms and tools for

people

to exchange ideas and facilitate collaborative work, the collective

intelligence

of

people

will be positively promoted. Especially during the pandemic period, most of the work is carried out remotely, during which workers take part in team meetings, projects and

group

decision making via video calls and

group

chats functions on their phones. Without the emerging development of

smartphones

and internet technologies, it is impossible to support collaborative team working, not to mention the sparking of great ideas among groups of

people

.

On the other hand

,

however

, it is not deniable that some

people

completely rely on their phones to search for information and ideas for different questions and problems without trying to figure out the best options by themselves. More importantly, if everyone in a certain team does not willing to utilising their own thinking skills, but depending on the online searching functions with their phones, there is no way collective

intelligence

could be generated. In a long term, the unwillingness of using the individual and

group

minds to solve questions are nurtured by

smartphones

. To conclude,

smartphones

and technologies are great tools to elicit

group

thinkings and collaborative

intelligence

if

people

use them properly as communication platforms and tools.

However

, detrimental effects could

also

be found if

people

are completely reliant on

smartphones

.