I just read an article in today's NY Times about the increased use of technology in our daily lives, and the effects it has on our brains:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/techn ... odayspaper

I found it very interesting. It is long, and if the findings of the studies in the article are correct, many of you might have a tough time keeping focused on an article that long.

Among other things, the article talks about how the use of technology actually rewires our brains and makes people "addicted" to electronic media. It finds that people who frequently "multitask" actually lose their ability to focus on one thing for an extended period of time, and that they become less able to filter out unnecessary information and prioritize.

All this didn't come as a big surprise to me, as I work with American teenagers on a daily basis and can see that they just don't have the attention span that I did when I was their age. But still, I did find the report illuminating not only to better understand others, but also to highlight the effects technology has on me and my brain.

Worth a read, if you don't have any pressing facebook updates to post.

I don't doubt the assertions of that article one bit.
The only thing I wonder is if the findings and how our brains are being rewired is a factor of western culture or specifically being "American".
We've been in instant gratification mode since well before computers, the internet or cell phones in this country.
"We" were already predisposed to be hypnotized by the trappings of technology.

/Not that I think it's really a bad thing...I want to be bionic someday

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I don't like the idea that my ability to focus on something for a long time might be compromised by my use of computers (my cell phone doesn't get used for anything but phone calls, I have no ipod or anything like that). I think, compared to many, including the family in this article, my use of technology is more tame. But even so, I still feel that pull to check my e-mail, or see who has responded to a post here. I hate to think that those impulses could grow to the point where I'm not entirely "present" for others in my life.

All about the Singularity, baby!

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mechaphil

I hear ya, but I think it has a lot to do with personality as well.
Perhaps people with naturally addictive personalities or less mature would be more inclined to allow technology to become a detriment to their lives.

(as I sit here at my desk with 3 screens, multiple email clients, multiple IM clients, multiple browsers, multiple terminal sessions open while replying to a txt message from my wife )

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Problem here being I think I do have a predisposition to addiction. By various standards, I could easily be identified as an alcoholic and a problem gambler.

Hey what you do in the bedroom is no concern of ours on this forum

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

We prefer the terms "connoisseur" and "gamester" around here.

But in any case, I wouldn't worry about a small shot of dopamine from computer use out-muscling the effects of the alcohol or adrenaline

I know when I get a few beers in me I have almost no desire to get online

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Hold my beer and watch this...

In Europe I always heard the older generation bitching about how "American" culture was ruining their young people. They talked about our television programs, music etc but they also talked about technologies such as computers, internet and cell phones as being "American" influences as well. The people under 35 or so over there are just like we are give or take when it comes to technology and attention spans. Instant gratification isn't only a U.S. plague.

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Being a teenager, I
WAS THAT A BIRD!?!?!

But seriously, I for one probably have it (which is becoming oddly normal) I can't study for shit, nobody I know can. Now is it being lazy, addicted to technology or both?

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

It's a product of the culture. Oldbies might say it started to get bad with the advent of MTV. I might be inclined to agree with them. Then again, I did just pour over a long post about how I'd fix the Sabres, which I accomplished by studying various teams' salaries and crunching the numbers myself.

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mechaphil

Well, that's not surprising.



I wouldn't doubt that. It's not at all unlikely that the only reason I still have the ability to concentrate on one thing for hours at a time, oftentimes so intently that I forget to eat, and enjoy reading for long periods of time etc. is that rather than spending my days playing on the computer and with game consoles (like my younger brothers do now), I spent them finishing school by 11:00 in the morning to play outside the rest of the day with my cousins that were at my house almost every day and my neighbors, all of whom were also homeschooled... When I was inside, I'd either play with Star Wars guys, read, or, yeah, play the Super Nintendo or N64, but until I was ten we had twenty-minute limits (that's also when we got our first computer; sorry to anyone I just made feel old ). It sort of reminds me of information from another study that determined that 98% of 10-year-olds in 1998 are more physically fit than the average 10-year-old in 2008.

I've seen the constant need for technology in almost everyone I know. When I'm at home, I'm on the internet probably a good eight hours a day on days I don't work, due to lack of friends in the area plus the ability to converse with the friends I have that is provided. If I'm not on the internet, I'm reading, typically.



And that reminded me of another few studies showing that this generation, mine, is the least empathetic one yet of the past fifty years or so. This is the first generation to grow up with this kind of technology; I wouldn't say that I did, not in my childhood at least (we've always been behind haha; we didn't have cable until I was fifteen, for example), but the generation as a whole absolutely did.

etc. lol

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

As long as pornographic technologies continue to advance, it's all good.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

we have the technology...

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

I think the mental stimulation technology provides makes our brains stronger in many respects. I never had time to read, but with my BaN eReader app I can download books and read them I have downtime at work! And after playing Left 4 Dead 2 for about 200 hours I am ready for any zombie apocalypse that crosses my path!

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

As much as I love technology, I still wish human's would not have industrialized. All we really need on this planet is food. If we were to simply be an agriculture based society, we would not be destroying the world at such a rapid rate, and we would probably be far better suited for survival. The problem is most of us think of "above" other animals, plants, and lifeforms. It's this notion that led us to believe its ok to rape, pillage, and plunder the very planet that gave birth to our very existense. Nature is that hand that feeds, so why are we biting it?

That being said, after I'm done on the interwebs I'm going to go ride my skateboard, made by machines, and then probably play my PS3. haha. We live in such a weird period of time on this planet.

In a number of respects, technology does strengthen our brains. If the way your brain works changes, then something is probably getting stronger. But what I worry about is that the parts of my brain that "improve" aren't as important to me as the ones that weaken.

By using technology, we get better at using technology and maybe gain more information. But like the article says, that may well come at the price of becoming more isolated from others. As much as we stress the importance of the individual in this society, I truly believe individuals are nothing except the sum of our relationships. If more and more of your relationships revolve around technology, and fewer and fewer revolve around other people...then at some point we lose our community.

tl,dnr


kidding.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I've personally noticed some effects in my own life the past couple of months or so and have tried to take a step back from it all (less facebook/sj time, turning my phone and the tv off). I originally thought I had some form of A.D.D. because my brain was always going a mile a minute, but I've found my level of concentration and focus increasing significantly.

It's interesting timing because I just read an article on Yahoo about how erupting sunspots could really put a damper on our technology inclined society in the future. If people are as hooked on the technology as the article suggests, then it'll be a huge wake up if GPS systems and cell phones backfire.

See, it's nice to know other people out there think like this.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger