More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

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brian
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More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

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Recent Fresh Air program on NPR entitled Digital Overload: Your Brain On Gadgets
The constant stream of information we get through mobile and hand-held devices is changing the way we think. Matt Richtel, a technology writer for The New York Times, explains how the use of digital technology is altering our brains -- and how retreating into nature may reverse the effects.
Ritchel wrote the Pultizer Prize winning series in the Times entiteled Driven to Distraction
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brian
Posts: 499
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:52 am

Re: More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

Post by brian »

August 25, 2010: New NY Times series by Matt Richtell called Your Brain on Computers.
First installment: Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
COMMENT: Bottom line is TAKE A BREAK.
Make technology work for YOU not you work for technology.
Appartently there’s a mini-dopamine ‘thrill’ we all get when we get pinged, buzzed, messaged, tweeted, whatever.
And so that’s why you feel an incessant need to constantly check you PDA for messages. You need the fix! the buzz!
But give your brain a rest. Put that PDA AWAY!
Schedule a check every hour rather than every minute.
Do it on YOUR time not their time!
See the article for more information.
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
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brian
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Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:52 am

Re: More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

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Nov 20, 2010: From the News and Observer Is technology making us dumb and dumber?
Technology has brought trade-offs. Many people have become beholden to their devices, relying on them for all manner of information from simple to complex. The gadgets have reduced the need to think; after all, help with a decision is a mouse click or cell-phone call away! So remembering is becoming a quaint activity. Businesses and consumers worldwide will spend about $49 billion this year on memory products in part to store birth dates, accounts and anniversaries.
The average American household owns 25 consumer electronics products. Here is how many have what:
  • 88% cordless phones
    81% DVD players
    73% desktop computers
    71% cellular phones or PCS phones
    49% digital cameras
    42% video game systems
    33% fax machines
    30% notebook or laptop computers
    28% audio/video receiver with surround-sound processors
    15% MP3 players
    9% mobile video or navigation systems
See the full article Is technology making us dumb and dumber?
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brian
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Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:52 am

Re: More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

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Nov 21, 2010: NY Times: Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.
Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention.
see the full article: Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
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brian
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Re: More on Digital Overload - Your brain on Gadgets

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Dec 15, 2010:NY Times One Step Back From the Digital World
  • COMMENT: Somewhat common sense, it's something I’ve been practicing for years: The new digital revolution is for YOUR convenience, not your being strapped to work and family and friends 24/7. Put your phone on silent and enjoy some time alone, away, free from interruptions.
See the article One Step Back From the Digital World
See also
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