SO. Why Trump’s ‘Reverse Migration’ Push Is The Expansion Of A Project Years In The Making
By linking DC shooting to what he calls ‘Biden illegal admissions’, Trump is pushing his most sweeping immigration crackdown, rooted in themes he has pushed since his first term.
US President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running war on immigration with one of his most sweeping promises yet: to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries” and to launch what he calls “reverse migration” to “fully cure” America’s problems.
The timing is not accidental. His latest Truth Social screed landed just after an Afghan national allegedly ambushed two National Guard members near the White House, killing 20-year-old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically injuring another trooper.
Trump blamed the attack on what he describes as Biden-era vetting failures and ordered sweeping reviews of asylum approvals, refugee admissions and Green Cards for nationals from countries his administration now labels “of concern”.
Now, he is using that to sell a much bigger project: not just slowing migration, but actively trying to push it into reverse.
What Did Trump Announce This Time?
In a long Thanksgiving post, Trump claimed US technological progress had been undermined by immigration policy and outlined a set of hardline pledges that go well beyond border control.
He vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries“, without defining the term or explaining how such a pause would operate under US immigration law. But the political message is clear: he wants a near-total shutdown of new arrivals from most of the developing world.
Second, Trump vowed to “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen”. In plain language, he is seeking to delegitimise and, where possible, rescind immigration decisions taken under former President Joe Biden, from asylum grants and humanitarian parole to other forms of legal pathways that conservatives have long attacked as “loopholes”.
Third, he pledged to “remove anyone who is not a net asset”, end all federal benefits for non-citizens, denaturalise those he believes undermine “domestic tranquillity”, and deport foreign nationals he labels public charges, security risks or “non-compatible with Western Civilization”.
These are political descriptions, not legal standards, but they indicate the direction in which he wants the system to move.
He capped the message with a threat and a flourish: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation… HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”
What Does Trump Mean By ‘Reverse Migration’?
“Reverse migration” has no legal definition. Trump uses it to frame a two-part project: undoing large segments of the Biden-era migration and restricting future inflows from much of the developing world.
At the immediate level, Trump is signalling an effort to reopen and potentially roll back Biden-era admissions and legal statuses. He has framed these decisions as improperly approved, and the actions already in motion reflect that view: an indefinite freeze on Afghan immigration cases, a full re-examination of Green Cards issued to nationals from 19 “countries of concern”, and a sweeping review of every asylum approval granted since 2021.
Together, these steps point to a systematic attempt to revisit, reassess and, where possible, overturn the legal pathways through which tens of thousands of migrants were admitted during the last four years.
But Trump is also laying the groundwork for a long-term net reduction in migration, especially from what he terms “Third World countries”. His proposed “permanent pause”, expanded grounds for deportation and the possibility of denaturalising individuals deemed incompatible with “domestic tranquillity” or “Western civilisation” all feed into a strategy aimed at ensuring fewer people enter and more people leave.
Combined with Trump’s decision to set the 2026 refugee admissions cap at just 7,500 — the lowest in US history — and with tightened ideological screening, the approach signals a broader effort to reshape the long-term composition of America’s immigrant population by narrowing pathways traditionally used by migrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
How Did The DC National Guard Shooting Become The Trigger?
The immediate backdrop is a shocking attack just a stone’s throw from the White House.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, two members of the National Guard on duty in central Washington were shot in what officials describe as an ambush-style assault. The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had previously worked with CIA-backed units in Afghanistan and later reached the US through a post-withdrawal resettlement route: Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era evacuation programme established after Kabul’s fall in 2021.
Within hours, the fallout moved from crime scene to politics. The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism. Trump, in an address to the nation, directly blamed “Biden-era vetting failures”, even though the suspect reportedly received asylum under the current Trump administration earlier this year.
The policy response was immediate and sweeping. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an indefinite halt on “all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals”, saying the pause would remain until security and vetting protocols were re-examined.
How Does This Fit Into Trump’s Long-Running Immigration Ideology?
While the language is new, the themes are not. From his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has framed immigration primarily as a threat — to jobs, culture and public safety — and has promised to slash both legal and illegal entries.
In his first term, he signed the so-called “Muslim ban”, a series of executive orders restricting entry and refugee resettlement from several Muslim-majority countries. These measures temporarily halted refugee admissions, barred Syrians indefinitely and subjected nationals from multiple Middle Eastern and African states to sweeping travel restrictions, before being revised and partially upheld by the US Supreme Court after legal challenges.
His administration also implemented the “zero tolerance” policy at the southern border, which led to thousands of children being separated from their parents as adults were prosecuted for illegal entry. It tightened asylum rules, making it far harder for people fleeing gang or domestic violence to qualify, and forced many Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed.
On the legal immigration side, the Trump administration tried to expand the “public charge” rule, a long-standing test used to deny Green Cards to applicants deemed likely to depend on government support. Trump’s version dramatically widened that definition, allowing officials to count the use of non-cash benefits such as Medicaid, food assistance or housing support, and to weigh factors like income, education and credit history to judge whether someone might rely on public aid in future. Critics said it amounted to a “wealth test” for immigrants, and the policy triggered a wave of lawsuits before eventually being rolled back in court.
His second term has amplified these themes: broader travel bans, aggressive visa revocations, a drastically reduced refugee resettlement programme and the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for several nationalities.
What Biden-Era Immigration Policies Is Trump Targeting?
Biden’s presidency marked a deliberate shift away from the restrictive framework of the Trump years. He ended the original travel bans, restored refugee admissions to a higher ceiling, dismantled the earlier public-charge rule, and expanded humanitarian parole routes for Afghans, Ukrainians, Venezuelans, Haitians and others fleeing conflict or instability. His administration also attempted to speed up asylum processing and reduce backlogs.
A central feature of Biden’s term was Operation Allies Welcome, which brought tens of thousands of Afghans to the US after the fall of Kabul. Lakanwal, the suspect in the DC attack, arrived through this very programme, turning OAW into a direct political flashpoint.
Trump now labels much of this as “Biden illegal admissions”.
Officials have already confirmed that all asylum cases approved in the Biden years are being re-checked and that permanent residency for roughly 233,000 refugees admitted during that period has been frozen pending review. USCIS has also halted all new Afghan-related applications entirely.
Additionally, since January, the Trump administration has revoked roughly 80,000 non-immigrant visas for offences ranging from DUI to assault and theft, alongside heightened scrutiny of social media behaviour and political expression.
Could A ‘Permanent Pause’ And ‘Reverse Migration’ Really Be Implemented?
Legally, US presidents do have considerable power to restrict entry. Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows them to suspend the entry of “any aliens or any class of aliens” if deemed detrimental to US interests. This was the basis for Trump’s earlier travel bans.
However, sweeping bans have repeatedly run into court challenges. Judges have blocked or narrowed several of Trump’s second-term attempts to restrict refugee admissions and apply travel bans inconsistently.
Denaturalisation for ideological reasons is even more difficult. US courts have ruled that citizenship cannot be revoked merely for unpopular views or political beliefs. Trump’s language about removing citizenship from those who undermine “domestic tranquillity” or are incompatible with “Western civilisation” would almost certainly face constitutional challenges.
A “permanent pause” on immigration from vast parts of the developing world would also collide with decades of practice in family-based migration, employment visas and humanitarian resettlement. Business groups, universities and even some Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that such measures could damage the US economy and competitiveness.
Trump can harden immigration enforcement, and he already has, but turning “reverse migration” into a durable legal framework would face substantial political and constitutional obstacles.
Why This Matters Far Beyond America
CIA Links Emerge in DC Shooting — Afghan Suspect’s Past, Guard Soldiers Critically Wounded | 4K
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For millions across Asia, Africa and Latin America, the United States remains a crucial destination for education, work and refuge. Trump’s vow to freeze migration and to reopen decisions made under Biden signals that even individuals who arrived legally and have built lives in the US could find their status unsettled by shifting political winds.
The DC shooting may have provided the spark, but the programme Trump is outlining is far bigger — a plan to reshape who gets to come to America, who gets to stay, and who America ultimately belongs to.
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar…Read More
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar… Read More
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First Published:
November 28, 2025, 14:45 IST
News explainers Why Trump’s ‘Reverse Migration’ Push Is The Expansion Of A Project Years In The Making
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It’s Personal: Why Asim Munir And Imran Khan Are Locked In Hostility
Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 17:25 IST
The hostility began years before Imran Khan’s arrest, rooted in personal slights, public accusations and a rare breakdown of civil–military boundaries
The tense standoff between Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir and jailed former prime minister Imran Khan is often described as political, sometimes as institutional, and increasingly as ethnic. But at its core, the rupture is deeply personal. What began years ago as a clash of egos and accusations has today become one of Pakistan’s most destabilising power struggles, resurfacing sharply amid rumours of Imran Khan’s death in jail and unprecedented silence from the state
In November, an Afghan news outlet reported that Imran Khan might have died in custody. The story landed in a context where, for four weeks, he had not been seen or heard from. Court orders allowing weekly family visits were not implemented. His wife, PTI leaders and lawyers had no access to him, and neither Adiala Jail authorities nor Punjab’s senior police officials could explain why visits had stopped.
On Thursday, thousands of supporters gathered outside Adiala Jail, chanting and demanding answers. People were not asking for statements; they were asking for evidence that he was alive. In the past, when rumours about Khan’s death had circulated, the government had quickly moved to issue clarifications. This time, the weeks of silence about his condition, followed by the refusal to implement court-ordered meetings, created a different kind of anxiety.
Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), described Asim Munir on X as a “powerless, insecure dictator masquerading as a general” and accused him of using abduction, torture and imprisonment against those who stood with Imran Khan. The party argued that Khan was being kept in complete isolation and that the blackout was deliberate.
This crisis did not emerge in isolation. It sits on top of years of personal and political hostility between Munir and Khan.
How The Feud Began
The first clear rupture between the two men dates back to 2018–2019, when Imran Khan was prime minister and Asim Munir was appointed director-general of the ISI. Munir’s tenure lasted only about eight months, the shortest in the agency’s history.
Munir had begun looking into corruption allegations linked to Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan’s wife. Khan was reportedly angered by this, and he pushed then army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa to remove Munir from the position. Munir was moved to command a corps in Gujranwala, a prestigious assignment but a clear step away from the direct control he had briefly wielded over Pakistan’s main intelligence service.
For an officer who had reached the pinnacle of the intelligence hierarchy, the removal was widely seen as a professional setback and a personal humiliation.
This episode laid the foundation for a personal grudge.
From Army’s ‘Saviour Project’ To Its Nemesis
For years, Pakistan’s military establishment viewed Imran Khan as a potential saviour. He was seen as a political outsider who could cleanse a discredited system, carry the army’s preferred narrative and offer a new kind of legitimacy to a state often run from behind the scenes by generals.
That relationship deteriorated quickly after he came to power. By 2022, Khan was ousted through a no-confidence vote. He and his supporters increasingly blamed the military leadership for engineering his removal. The sense of betrayal cut both ways: Khan felt the institution had turned against him, while the military saw a leader it had backed now accusing it in public.
Khan’s support base also changed the calculus. He attracted a constituency that included people who had previously stayed away from politics — urban middle-classes, women and young first-time voters — many of whom came to see the army as the central obstacle in Pakistani politics. They were often accused of naivety, but their anger after his ouster was directed squarely at the military, not just at rival parties.
Naming Generals And Breaking Pakistan’s Political Taboos
The rift deepened in the months following Imran Khan’s ouster when he began doing something unusual in Pakistani politics — naming serving generals directly in public speeches. Before his arrest in May 2023, Khan repeatedly identified Asim Munir as the officer he believed was “trying to crush” his party, PTI. He consistently accused Munir of driving actions taken against PTI after his removal from office.
Khan also targeted Bajwa, calling him a traitor, and blamed him for engineering his removal
While Pakistani politicians have criticised the military institutionally in the past, direct personal accusations against serving intelligence officials were rare. Khan’s language signalled that he was no longer willing to keep civil–military tensions contained within traditional boundaries. For the military leadership, this reinforced the perception that Khan was challenging the institution’s internal cohesion and hierarchy.
By the time Asim Munir assumed the post of army chief in November 2022, he was taking command of an institution that believed it was under sustained public attack by a former prime minister, and one with whom he had a personal history.
May 2023 Protests
The decisive break came on 9 May 2023. After repeated failed attempts, Khan was arrested, and his supporters responded in a way no mainstream political force had before. They entered cantonment areas, breached the gates of the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and ransacked the residence of a senior general in Lahore, filming themselves while damaging property.
For many Pakistanis, it was the first time they saw cantonment life — large houses, manicured lawns, visible privilege — laid bare on social media. For the army, this was a direct challenge to its prestige and control. Munir later called 9 May a “black day” in Pakistan’s history.
The state response followed familiar lines: multiple cases against PTI leaders, mass arrests and moves to try some protesters in military courts. The army also used public messaging campaigns, including songs about martyrs and posters praising the military, and pressured PTI leaders to either leave the party or publicly distance themselves from Khan’s confrontational approach.
From the military’s perspective, 9 May confirmed that Imran’s movement had crossed a red line. From Khan’s perspective, the subsequent crackdown confirmed that the army was determined to crush him politically.
Imran Khan’s Public Criticism Of Munir
Khan faced a cascade of legal cases. By August 2023, he was jailed on graft and related charges.
From jail and through his party, Imran Khan continued to criticise Munir by name. In October 2023, he accused the army chief of turning Pakistan into a “hard state,” adding that what he called “Asim Law” suppressed democratic institutions. He alleged that he was kept in total isolation, denied contact with lawyers, family and political colleagues, and argued that the treatment represented political victimisation.
His aide Zulfi Bokhari claimed that Bushra Bibi’s family had been made to wait outside Adiala for over six hours, only to be denied visitation and even the right to deliver daily essentials.
These statements contributed to the impression of a feud driven not only by power calculations but also by personal resentment.
Munir’s Consolidation Of Power
The recent amendments to Pakistan’s constitutional and military framework intensified the dynamics between the two men. In November this year, Pakistan passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which amended Article 243 and elevated Asim Munir to the position of Chief of Defence Forces. This change extended his authority across the army, navy and air force, provided lifetime immunity, and expanded his formal powers over key state institutions.
These reforms consolidated his position at a moment of economic strain, rising insecurity, and growing Taliban-linked violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
As Munir strengthened his institutional position, PTI has argued that these changes enable a crackdown on dissent. The party has claimed that Munir fears Imran Khan’s influence and popularity, which remains significant even after his imprisonment.
Pashtuns, Punjabis And The Deeper Ethnic Wound
Ethnic tensions form an important backdrop to the confrontation. The military and federal institutions are dominated by Punjabis. Pashtuns (Pathans), concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Balochistan, have often felt sidelined and underdeveloped compared to Punjab. Punjab’s control over federal funds has left KP relatively underdeveloped, feeding a sense of injustice.
Recent Pakistani airstrikes in Khost and Paktika, which killed civilians, and the forced return of Afghan refugees in harsh conditions, have fuelled the view among many Pashtuns that the Punjabi-led establishment is acting against them.
In an October column for the diaspora news portal GlobalVillageSpace, Barrister Shahzad Akbar wrote “The latest official rhetoric from the military establishment paints Pashtuns, Afghans, and the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the problem, conveniently linking them with Talibanisation and internal insecurity.”
Within this context, Imran Khan’s Pashtun identity and PTI’s strength in KP give the feud an added layer.
The reaction to rumours of Imran Khan’s death underscored this volatility. Delhi-based journalist Ninad Sheth wrote on X, “Reports surface of Imran Khan’s killing. If true, the Pashtoon belt could see a chain reaction. Blood feud looms. His martyrdom would ignite fury from Khyber to Kandahar. Pakistan Army’s Asim Munir can’t contain that. And if Imran is alive, this increases pressure for his well-being.”
“Why the secrecy? Because the regime led by Asim Munir and Shehbaz Sharif fears even a 30-second clip of Imran Khan will ignite the streets. His support base is massive, and the establishment knows it. When you’re scared of showing a man’s face, it means something is very wrong,” Indian filmmaker Abhilash Badli wrote on X.
Where Things Stand Now
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The standoff between Imran Khan and Asim Munir has moved far beyond a dispute between two individuals. The prolonged isolation of the former prime minister, the lack of clarity around his well-being, and the expansion of military authority raise questions about transparency and political inclusion.
As Pakistan confronts economic pressures, internal security challenges and shifting regional dynamics, the unresolved feud between its most influential military leader and its most recognisable political figure continues to drive national uncertainty
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar…Read More
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar… Read More
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There’s drama, then there is Reddit. It was a usual day on the discussion forum platform when an artist, Hayden Clay, decided to share his art on Subreddit: r/Art. Like every community on Reddit, this Subreddit, dedicated to sharing art and followed by 22 million subscribers, had certain rules for users to keep in mind before posting.
“This is a subreddit about art, where we are serious about art and artists, and discussing art in a mature, substantive way,” reads the description of r/Art.
However, when Clay shared his art “Clear Boundaries”, all hell broke loose and r/Art went into a total lockdown.
Since posting on r/Art was blocked by its moderators, Clay took to his X account to share what led to his ban from the Subreddit.
The artist shared a screenshot of a chat he had with one of the moderators before being ousted from the community.
What did he do to deserve such a harsh punishment? Clay, who uses the username Strawber on Reddit, replied to a comment praising his part by stating that he had prints for sale. This violated the community rules.
Perplexed by the permanent ban he was facing, Clay asked the moderator, “Are you seriously banning me for giving more information on my work?”
To which the moderator responded by saying, “No, I banned you for breaking our rules. But I can remove all your old posts if you’d like.”
Unhappy with the ban, Clay urged the moderator to delete his comment containing the word “print” instead of punishing him and asked the moderator to just “move on”.
The moderator then informed Clay that his history had been deleted from the Subreddit. Unhappy with the treatment, Clay wondered if the moderator was acting out of vendetta. The artist acknowledged his error and apologised for violating Rule 9: “No Blogs/Social Media/Stores/Spam/Self-Promo”.
Unfazed and not ready to budge, the moderator shaded Clay for having “main character energy”. Strawber aka Clay wasn’t having any of it and called the mod “power hungry”.
The moderator then revealed that they had reported the artist for “harassment”.
Clay was left bamboozled.
“The most embarassing thing you can be in this world is a reddit moderator (sic),” wrote Clay on his X account as he shared the bizarre conversation he had with the r/Art moderator.
After being tagged for harassment by the r/Art mod, Clay faced a site-wide ban that lasted three days.
What Is A Reddit Moderator?
Reddit moderators are unpaid volunteers who are chosen by existing moderators or community members to keep the community up and running. These moderators enforce rules. They are tasked with removing spam, accepting and rejecting submitted content, and keeping the space safe and fun for the rest of the members. This is how Subreddits are the way they are, as moderators often shape the tone, language, and quality of a given Subreddit.
Also Read: ‘Swiggy, Zomato Not Allowed In Lift’: Reddit Decodes Absurd Rule In Housing Societies
What Happened Next?
Clay’s permanent ban from the r/Art community was just the beginning of the chaos that was to follow next.
Turns out the rest of the Subreddit’s artists weren’t okay with Clay getting permanently banned. In solidarity, people began sprinkling the word “print” into unrelated posts everywhere.
This did not sit too well with the moderators.
“We Out”
In a final post made on the r/Art group, a moderator simply wrote: “We out”.
The Moderator also commented on their post by saying, “You win. We all resign.”
This mass resignation update by the moderators was downvoted 36K times.
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The art that got Hayden Clay permanently banned.
Currently, all the posts on r/Art are locked. The moderators, in protest, have not allowed a single post on the Subreddit since.
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
News explainers How A Single Word Led To The Collapse Of r/Art Subreddit: ‘Print’ Drama Explained
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How Constant Phone Checking May Be Damaging Your Brain And How To Break The Habit
Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 15:01 IST
When a notification appears, the brain releases a burst of anticipation. Even without it, users check phones, which divides focus and train the brain to expect constant stimulation
If you have reached for your mobile phone even once while reading this article, you have already proved the central finding of the latest research by a UK university.
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A joint study by Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom and Keimyung University in South Korea has established a direct statistical link between the number of times a person unlocks their smartphone each day and measurable declines in sustained attention, working memory, and the ability to learn new material. The threshold is chillingly precise: Cross 100-110 unlocks a day, and the damage becomes statistically significant. If you check your phone 150 times a day, the deterioration accelerates sharply.
Over the last decade, smartphones have transformed from communication devices to constant digital companions. They wake people up, remind them to drink water, navigate traffic, track calories, deliver breaking news, and offer endless entertainment. But while smartphones make life more convenient, growing concern now centres around a quieter, more subtle issue: how they may be affecting human attention, memory, and the ability to think deeply.
The question is no longer whether smartphones are changing our lives, but whether they are also changing human minds, and at what cost.
The Brain Is Wired For Distraction
Human brains are evolutionarily designed to scan for threats, rewards, and opportunities. A buzzing notification, a flashing screen, or a “ping” from a message acts as a modern stimulus, similar to how the brain once reacted to sudden sounds in the wild.
Each time a notification appears, the brain releases a burst of anticipation and reward. Even without a notification, many users automatically check their phones, known as ‘checking behaviour’, just to see if something new has happened. These repetitive interruptions divide regular attention into fragmented episodes, training the brain to expect constant stimulation rather than focus for extended periods.
When this pattern repeats dozens or hundreds of times a day, the brain may gradually adapt to preferring short, shallow bursts of attention over sustained focus.
“The phones and digital media are reinforcing for our brains, activating the same reward pathway as drugs and alcohol. The phones create a compulsive habit loop where we check without thinking and experience withdrawal when we don’t check or don’t have access to our phone,” said Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, as quoted in a Washington Post report.
When Your Phone Thinks For You
One of the most surprising findings from cognitive research in recent years is that the mere presence of a smartphone, near you or even in your bag, can reduce available cognitive capacity.
This does not mean people become permanently less intelligent. Instead, the brain gently allocates resources towards monitoring the phone, even without conscious attention. It is like having a small window open in the brain, always waiting for the smartphone to demand attention.
What suffers most is “brain bandwidth”—the ability to think, reason, and remember information in the moment. People may feel mentally present but are unknowingly working at less than full cognitive potential. This becomes especially noticeable during tasks that need deep concentration, such as studying, reading, problem-solving, or planning.
Explaining how this affects children, Dr Jyoti Kapoor, senior psychiatrist and psychotherapist, from Gurugram, explains, “The real issue is not using phones for getting information on homework or assignments or learning, but what the brain is practising while using them. If a child reads a concept from a book and reflects on it, the brain practises understanding and storing. If a child quickly Googles an answer and moves on, the brain practises retrieval from a device, not memory or reasoning. Over time, this changes how the brain works. The child becomes skilled at finding information but not assimilating or connecting knowledge. So, while technology is a tool, over-dependence turns it into a cognitive crutch.”
Notifications, Dopamine, And Digital Dependency
Every time a notification appears, the brain experiences a tiny reward response. Even simple actions such as checking for new messages, scrolling feeds, or refreshing apps can trigger small surges of dopamine.
Over time, this reward loop subtly reshapes behaviour. People begin to reach for their phones not because something happened, but because it might have happened. The uncertainty itself becomes addictive. This mechanism is the same one used in slot machines and casino games, known as “variable reward.”
The brain slowly learns to prefer quick hits of stimulation over slow, uninterrupted thinking. This makes activities like reading a book, writing, studying, or listening deeply to someone feel less engaging than brief phone usage, even though they may be more meaningful.
So, What Happens To Focus, Memory, And Learning?
“What we repeatedly do, the brain repeatedly wires. It is like training a muscle. When a child
consistently ‘outsources’ thinking to a smartphone, searching instead of recalling, copying instead of processing, scrolling instead of reflecting, multiple core neural systems are affected… Long-term impact on the brain includes shortened attention span, poorer memory consolidation, reduced critical thinking ability, difficulty with boredom or silence, and emotional dysregulation,” Dr Kapoor explained.
Researchers studying heavy smartphone use have consistently observed three key cognitive effects:
Reduced sustained attention: People become more prone to distraction and find it harder to stay engaged with a single activity for long. Multi-tasking, especially involving phones, feels easy, but it typically lowers overall productivity and mental clarity.
Weakened Working Memory: Working memory is the brain’s system for holding and processing information. It is essential for solving problems, learning new concepts, and making decisions. Frequent interruptions from phones force the brain to repeatedly refresh working memory, resulting in poorer recall and understanding.
Difficulty With Deep Thinking: High-level cognitive tasks such as planning, analysing, and critical reasoning require uninterrupted time. When thinking is repeatedly broken into fragments by phone interactions, the brain cannot form strong conceptual connections. This weakens understanding and creativity.
None of these effects is permanent. But if smartphone use continues to be intense and unbroken, the brain may gradually become accustomed to shallow processing over deep thinking.
Is India At Higher Risk?
India did not create the smartphone problem, but it may be living through its most dramatic version. Today, nearly 85% Indian households own a smartphone, and around 86% families have access to the Internet, per the Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025.
Several factors make the country uniquely vulnerable:
- Extremely cheap mobile data has made video streaming and constant messaging nearly universal.
- Long commutes in metro cities create hours of idle time filled with casual scrolling.
- Education pressure pushes students to keep phones nearby “for learning,” but often leads to distraction.
- High social dependence on WhatsApp and family groups keeps notifications active 24/7.
- Food delivery, transport, and gig work platforms make it difficult to put phones away, even briefly.
- In urban families, smartphones have become alarm clocks, diaries, wallets, and entertainment centres. The dependency is infrastructural, not just emotional.
How Does Phone Use Impact Students And Professionals?
The impact of constant phone use is no longer limited to theory or psychology labs.
In schools and colleges, teachers increasingly report that students struggle to read long passages, concentrate during exams, or remember key concepts. Many students keep phones next to them during study hours, even when offline, often slowing their focus and efficiency.
According to a report by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 82.2% of all children in the 14-16 age group know how to use a smartphone. Of these, 57% reported using it for an educational activity, while 76% said that they had used it for social media.
In workplaces, managers notice that employees frequently switch between tasks, check messages during meetings, and find it difficult to maintain uninterrupted attention on complex assignments. Multitasking feels productive, but it often reduces work quality.
In daily life, people report forgetting what they were searching for as soon as they pick up the phone. Many people experience mental fatigue, difficulty falling asleep, or a constant need for background stimulation.
Do Smartphones Cause ADHD-like Symptoms?
While smartphones do not cause ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), there is growing concern that excessive use can create ADHD-like behaviours even in people without any underlying disorder. These include restlessness, irritability during boredom, difficulty reading for long stretches, and compulsive checking.
However, experts agree that such symptoms are environmental, not neurodevelopmental. They are created by behaviour, and therefore, are reversible.
Is Recovery Possible?
Unlike addiction to chemicals or substances, digital dependency rarely causes permanent brain damage. The brain retains its plasticity—the ability to rewire, heal, and rebuild attention capacity.
Most people begin to notice improvements in focus, sleep, and mental clarity when they implement phone boundaries for even two to three weeks.
Dr Kapoor suggests: “Children can set fixed “phone-free study hours”; encourage writing answers by hand to activate deeper memory networks; introduce “delay before search”; should read physical books to build attention span. Parents need to create phone-free spaces: e.g., no phones during meals or before bedtime; reward effort-based thinking, not just correct answers; encourage offline hobbies such as music, art, sports, which strengthen focus and emotional balance. Most importantly, parents should help children understand that the phone should be a tool for the brain, not a replacement for it.”
Some other strategies include:
Phone out of sight: Keeping the phone in a different room during work or study improves focus far more than just putting it on silent mode.
Turning off non-essential notifications: This reduces attention interruptions and prevents the “phantom vibration” effect.
Charging phone outside the bedroom: Helps restore normal sleep cycles and reduces the urge to scroll late at night or immediately after waking up.
Creating phone-free zones: Dining tables, study desks, and places of worship are good starting points.
Replacing scrolling with reading: Keeping a physical book or notebook accessible makes it more likely to engage the mind in deep thinking during idle moments.
Time-batching checks: Checking messages only at fixed times, such as morning, afternoon, and evening, can help break compulsive checking.
These methods don’t eliminate smartphones. They help people regain control over how and when they use them.
The Real Test You Can Try
Anyone can try a simple test. Open the phone’s settings and check how many times it was unlocked yesterday. If the number is above 100, that may be a sign that the phone is not just a tool; it is actively shaping behaviour. Even more important is how often it interrupts important tasks like studying, reading, or thinking.
The goal is not to minimise unlocks, but to regain intention: using the phone when necessary, and not simply when bored.
Thus, the biggest winners of the future, whether students preparing for exams, professionals aiming for leadership, or creators building new ideas, will not be those with the fastest internet connections or most notifications. They will be the ones who still possess something increasingly rare: the ability to think deeply, stay focused, and hold uninterrupted attention.
Smartphones offer tremendous power. The challenge is to use that power without sacrificing the very mental strengths that make humans unique: memory, focus, reasoning, and imagination.
In the end, it is not about rejecting technology, but mastering it. The device is not the problem. The problem begins when it quietly takes control of our minds.
