Technology is everywhere. You take it for granted that technology is an advancement for the human race and a good thing. But is it really? Many scientists and researchers have written on so many ways that technology had been re-wiring our brains and causing us to do things that our parent would never even imagined doing even if they could have. Technology, however, is, indeed, causing us to become more stupid as time progresses according to much scientific research. Here is just a few ways that modern technology is making us stupid.
No focus and no sleep
Your sleep is being dislodged as the blue light from all of your gadgets is preventing your brain from producing the melatonin it needs to regulate your internal clock and your sleeping patterns. Not getting seven to nine hours of sleep every night can lead to depression, mood swings, loss of focus at work, confusion and relationship problems.
Technology also disrupts focus to the point where your brain becomes extremely confused. While the concept of multi-tasking is highly lauded and praised, it is actually allowing you to get less done and what you get done is inferior work. People constantly interrupt what they are doing to look at or answer their phones as if it they might be hurled off into another universe if they ignored their phone. Cell phone addiction is fast becoming a serious health and societal problem and concern. Because of this constant multitasking and loss of focus, your attention span eventually becomes that of a baby.
Damaged memory and concentration and you can’t find your way anymore
Because of your constant distraction and multitasking, your brain is no longer able to form memories properly. You have your working memory and your long term memory and they are intricately linked. If there is a break in your working memory, like multitasking or checking your phone every three seconds, your neurons can’t make and establish connections with your long term memory.
Memory is also weakened because people aren’t actually forced to remember stuff anymore. They just go out to a search engine and look it up. Recent research also has concluded that Millennials are actually more forgetful than Baby Boomers. Because of the constant multitasking and sleep deprivation, your ability to remember things has been seriously eroded. Also, because of all of this, your ability to focus or read one thing at a time is just about shot.
You’re just a baby and a drug addict now?
As mentioned before, technology has caused the younger generations to have the attention spans of babies. Add this to recent brain research comparing the brains of those who are addicted to the world wide web to the brains of drug addicts and alcoholics. The ground breaking study in 2012 revealed that, indeed, the web is an addiction and it causes certain breakdown in brain chemistry so that, over time, the internet addicted brain is actually the same as the brain of a drug addict.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay