When thinking of a smartphone, look at these dictionary.com definitions of “smart” as a verb … and my own examples of how they relate to a smartphone:
verb (used without object)
-
to be a source of sharp, local, and usually superficial pain, as a wound:
Her Instagram app’s middle-of-the-night beep smarted. -
to be the cause of a sharp, stinging pain, as an irritating application, a blow, etc.:
The crime news in the news-feed app smarted every morning that he checked it before getting out of bed. -
to feel a sharp, stinging pain, as in a wound:
She smarted after seeing how successful a former roommate seemed in her Facebook posts. -
to suffer keenly from wounded feelings:
He smarted under the criticism by random strangers to his tweet on his Twitter app. -
to feel shame or remorse or to suffer in punishment or in return for something:
She smarted with the regret of ignoring the directions from her GPS app.
verb (used with object)
- to cause a sharp pain to or in:
Her Facebook posts with her new boyfriend smarted him every time he checked the app.
Now, you tell me:
- Does a smartphone make you smarter, or does it smart when you use it?