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The rapid development of science and technology affects the educational process and the changes in its methodological characteristics. Today in connection with the new global context of the pandemic, online education is gaining popularity. In particular, mobile applications are used not only for entertainment but also for educational purposes (Drigas & Angelidakis, 2017; Farrah & Abu-Dawood, 2018). Research shows the effectiveness of educational technology products that contribute to the development of cognitive skills as the completion of tasks of different complexity, performance of similar actions, or acquisition of new experiences contribute to the development of the cognitive activity, memory, and concentration (Drigas & Karyotaki, 2014; Qi, 2021; Saedi et al., 2018). Modern mobile applications facilitate the integration of innovations into the learning process. Such solutions are gradually replacing traditional learning methods, in particular, note-taking, lectures, research, storytelling, and reports, which have lost their effectiveness and relevance (Teymurova et al., 2020).
The functionality of mobile phones has dramatically expanded: they are no longer only a means of communication but also an effective mechanism for learning, increasing the level of knowledge, practical skills, and professional competencies (Ahmad, 2020). Educational mobile applications are used at all stages of education, starting from the junior age. They are proved to contribute to cognitive development and improve critical thinking as, when solving various puzzles, taking part in quests, or looking for the differences between pictures requiring knowledge and developed thinking, the parts of the brain responsible for cognitive processes are stimulated (Lawrence & Choe, 2021; Orakcı, 2021). In contrast to the traditional education system, to which the human brain has been accustomed for a long time, non-standard learning based on mobile applications leads to the development and improvement of memory by solving tasks of varying sophistication. Modern mobile applications are designed in a way allowing learners to spend little time watching videos but stay highly concentrated during this period. Such mobile mechanisms are based on the principle of the review of knowledge and skills previously acquired (Tanil & Yong, 2020). The available data on the impact of digital learning on the verbal and visual perceptual components of the cognitive skills of children of different ages obtained via psychological tests evidence that the respondents with a higher level of digital skills are better at naming, semantics, visual memory and logical thinking (Pereira et al., 2017). Mobile applications develop and improve such professional competencies as the skills of non-standard and original thinking, the ability to use the knowledge gained in practice and generate new ideas. At the same time, excessive use of mobile applications for no specific purpose can also negatively affect cognitive abilities, their deterioration, or slowdown. The most common examples here are:
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Media resources that negatively affect attention as the human brain cannot process a large flow of information and recognize true or false facts.
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Navigation systems that are associated with a deterioration in the cognitive construction of a map as a person uses ready-made answers rather than thinking and knowledge.
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Smartphones that can reduce the ability to process information.
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Search engines and Facebook that often lead to distracted attention, which has an adverse influence on academic performance (Wilmer et al., 2017).