An Australian expert has stated that our excessive reliance on smartphones gradually weakens four of our main senses. Susan Denham Wade (55), author of the book "A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions," a pioneering study of the history of human vision through the ages, believes that our overreliance on smartphones steadily diminishes our senses of smell, touch, hearing, and taste. These devices may also be at least partially responsible for levels of stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depression in society, especially among youth.
The former executive director, who was born in Australia but has lived in the UK since 1994, explained that our five basic senses have evolved for the purpose of interacting with the natural environment and with each other personally. In other words, we are designed to use all of our senses simultaneously in the real world, and when we don’t, our senses and mental health may be affected.
We can now monitor the world around us, communicate through texting and social media, and send photos of our daily activities to friends and family through a small screen without ever leaving home. However, at the same time, smartphones have enslaved our eyes as never before; they are the first thing we look at in the morning and the last thing we check at night.
Throughout our daily lives, we rely on our smartphones for work, shopping, banking, news and information, and staying connected with others, for example, through various applications. This is the peak of convenience, but the problem lies in the fact that we have evolved to use all of our senses in balance.
We spend hours staring at screens, and while our eyes are nourished, our other senses—hearing, smell, touch, and taste—are deprived of this nourishment. Fortunately, Denham Wade states that there are some simple— and free—ways to reactivate all our senses, thus protecting our mental health.
**Smell**
Studies have shown that the sense of smell can be improved by inhaling four different scents for 30 seconds twice a day. Train your nose by smelling common items with rich and pleasant aromas that you can find around the house, such as chocolate, fresh coffee, tea leaves, or herbs daily.
**Taste**
To regain the sense of taste, reduce fast food intake, and replacing heavily processed foods with healthy options can also help improve our mood. A study conducted in 2016 and published in the American Journal of Public Health found that adding extra servings of fresh fruits and vegetables significantly enhances happiness and well-being. The sense of smell is closely linked to taste; inhale the aroma of your food to bring scents into your nose and enhance flavor. When chewing, draw a small amount of air through your mouth to help scents reach the nasal cavity. Also, ensure proper chewing as it allows for more scent detection.
**Touch**
Also, take care of your fingertips, as each fingertip has over 3,000 touch receptors, so keep them soft. If your fingertip skin is rough or tough, it will be less sensitive to touch. You can increase the stimulation of your sense of touch by spending some time each day handling items with different textures, such as satin sheets, a piece of soap, coarse sandpaper, and others.
**Hearing**
Exercise your ears daily by trying to focus on sounds and identifying their sources. You can do this by walking and listening to bird sounds or other natural noises or at home by placing speakers in different parts of the room to determine where the sounds are coming from.
**Sight**
Ensure that you spend at least 10 to 20 minutes outdoors each day, as this will stimulate serotonin production. Also, consume more leafy vegetables, as well as broccoli, eggplant, and eggs, as they contain high amounts of carotenoids, which are believed to help protect the eyes from the harmful effects of blue light and reduce the risk of macular degeneration—the leading cause of permanent vision loss in people over the age of 60.
