The Internet is Changing our Thought Processes ... Posts From the Past 23/09/10

 

The debate over how the Internet is affecting our brains is on again and the  ‘mind change’ brought about by using the internet needs urgent research to work out its long-term effects - so says Professor Susan Greenfield of University of Southampton.

She fears that technologies are “ infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment “

I know what she means. 

My mind seems to be completely infantilised and my attention span is mostly lower than the average 2 year olds (as I often comment on) Whether this is due to the internet or not of course, needs researching too.

Search engines are “driving us to distraction” and technology is moving faster than neuroscience can monitor its effect on our brains. In simple speak, I think that means we don’t know what it is doing to our thought processes. I know that advert about search engines that's on TV lately drives me to distraction –  and drives me straight away from the TV back to the computer actually.

I agree with what the professor says, and most of us would say that too much internet use is as bad for our health as eating too many chips or drinking too much red wine. But the “powers that be” don’t half encourage it. Many things now are only able to be done online and it’s cheaper and stuff – banking, shopping, paying bills etc. We of course do still have the self control switch, but if pressure on life makes us go online more than we think is necessary, well it’s not all our fault, is it ?

A friend has just this morning had a new broadband line fitted, so I'm away to provide my valuable techy support on installing the router. See if I can get my thought processes around that one.