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It seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smart-phones become increasingly important assistants（助手）in their lives. As we rely（依赖）too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities.

The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored（储存）in smart-phone contacts, there’s now no need to dial（拨打）a number or look at it again. This is fine until you need to call someone for help, only to find your phone is not around. And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because some apps can guide people anywhere they want. People get so dependent on them that when they can’t use their smart-phones, they get lost and anxious.

But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially inept (无能的). People often bury themselves in their smart-phones. As we’re too absent-minded by what’s happening in the virtual (虚拟的), some of us have lost conversational(交谈的) skills and sometimes can’t even tell whether a person is happy or not.

Last August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours’ screen time every day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared.

The children made an average of 14.02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp without electronic (电子的) products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average.

Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your parents’ numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and stores, which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic products.