Reuters: Thumbs Are the New Fingers for GameBoy Youth. The use of gadgets such as mobile phones and GameBoys has caused a physical mutation in young people’s hands, according to a British Sunday newspaper. I wouldn’t believe everything a Sunday newspaper says, but there’s no doubting the way young people adapt to technology. MTV brought us two minute attention spans, now the Gameboy and Nokia bring us the dextrous thumb. (btw, this post on Slashdot notes that the use of the word mutation is incorrect — there is nothing happening here on the genetic level. This is a bit like typists developing pudgier fingers or piano-players having more dextrous hands.)