Technology is frying our brains

Technology is frying our brains

Remember when you parents would say, “stop watching so much TV.  It will rot your brain”.  And yet, what do most of us do on a daily basis for more than 8 hours a day? Stare at a TV screen.  You call it a monitor/display.  It can be a slick 22” wide-screen monitor like the one I am staring at right now.  It can be a small iPhone or Droid display.  Either way, most of us stare at a computer for most of the work day.  When we go home, we surf the web for fun, play video games, “watch TV” in it’s many different forms, etc.  You get the point.  It is frying our brains.  And no, I do not mean sautéed grey matter like in Hannibal.  Blech.  I mean, effecting how your brain works.

In the May issue of Wired Magazine, Nicholas Carr wrote about the effect that the web is having on our ability to focus.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/

For example – did you ever search for a good tzatziki recipe and 30 minutes later end up on the World Fact Book page for Fiji?   By the way, if you ARE looking for a good tzatziki recipe, let me know.  The point is, we all do it and it happens more and more as people click on links that look interesting but have nothing to do with the content.  Case in point, how many of you clicked on the Hannibal link above and started looking at other YouTube videos?

The point is, the more we surf, the more overstimulated we get and the less detail we end up retaining.  At least that’s what I got out of it, but then again my iPod was playing Grateful Dead tunes and my Droid was going off every 2 minutes with text messages from my teenagers.

And this is one of the reasons why this very topic concerns me.  Sure, I get distracted, but I can still sit down, read a book or study info online and not get distracted.  I’m not sure that is the case with our kids. 

The New York Times online did a piece on a group of neuroscientists who went on a rafting trip down the San Juan river in Utah.  The purpose of the trip?  To understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.  My first reaction was, how can I swing THAT gig!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/technology/16brain.html

Now, if you have teenagers, when was the last time they were technology free?  Free from phones, iPods, TV, computers, etc?  My youngest teen spent a week at Bible camp last month.  One of the requirements of the campers was that they had to leave phones, game players and iPods at home.  I thought my youngest was going to have a melt down.  This is a girl who churns out tens of thousands of messages each month.  But she didn’t.  Instead, she had a blast with her friends, but more importantly, got to take a much deeper dive into The Bible.  Her understand of both the Old and New Testament were exponentially better than when I dropped her off.  She also said that being technology free was no big deal once she got over the initial shock.

So I pose a challenge to anyone reading this blog – cut the cord.  If only for a day, but preferably for a few days.  Even a week.  Make it a family event.  Re-connect with your significant other, your kids, your dog, etc.  The first few days will seem kinda weird, but trust me, the world will continue to spin without you posting a new Facebook status every few hours.  You will be surprised with what you learn, but more importantly, what you will gain from the whole experience.

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