Young tech users suffering from "digital dimensia"

[KDOG]

Wait....wut.....


http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/...ia-plaguing-young-tech-users/?intcmp=trending

 

[Anubis]

This excess use of technology leads to unbalanced brain development, as heavy users are more likely to overdevelop their left brains, leaving their right brains underdeveloped.

The left side of the brain is generally associated with rational thought, numerical computation and fact finding, while the right side of the brain is responsible for more creative skills and emotional thoughts. If the right brain remains under developed in the long term, it can lead to the early onset of dementia.

ill take more young people who can think rationally at the trade off of more crazy old people

 

[OverVolt]

Glad I grew up before all this digital stuff was so pervasive.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

ill take more young people who can think rationally at the trade off of more crazy old people

Fox "News" is scared shitless of this though.

 

[Scotteq]

It's OK - by the time dementia sets in, the kids will be able to phone the NSA to ask where I wandered off to this time.

 

[ultimatebob]

Heh... who knew! That Idiocracy movie wasn't just a comedy, it was a future documentary

 

[OverVolt]

This would seem to be worse. Who doesn't know their own phone number? I admit that I've kind of forgotten most of my friends numbers though.

I remember as a kid keeping a pen and paper list of my friends phone numbers. Or typing one up and printing your own personal little phonebook if you were super-ambitious. I would dial like 10 numbers all from memory as easily as I remember my name. Now I'm just like "Oh he's the one with the funky area code number" even though I have seen it hundreds of times.

I can recognize the numbers, but couldn't recall them. Its amazing how technology trains your brain to just instantly dump the recall part of your memory.

Its like using my own memory is too slow because of the learning to recall the information process is awkward. But once mastered, nothing can really replace your memory. I still have childhood friend phone numbers burned into my memory and instantly can be recalled but I actually don't know the # for my Apt landline, lol.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Why not just call it tech slavery....ohh yea, it sounds too harsh.

 

[WiseUp216]

Ban computers, IMO.

 

[Anubis]

Fox "News" is scared shitless of this though.

lol

 

[darkewaffle]

Is "dimensia" supposed to be a shitty pun or just really poor spelling?

I suppose I could be left brain heavy, I wonder if it's the 'puters. Regardless, I'd rather people be left heavy than right heavy.

Its amazing how technology trains your brain to just instantly dump the recall part of your memory.

I'd say it trains you to build improved (or more abstract) logical relationships between data and that it helps train your brain on what data does not need to be retained. We have a thousand different ways to store/record knowledge already, but our brain is the only real source we have of new ideas and critical thinking.

 

[Jaskalas]

So as you become too withered and old for logic, the creative part of the brain has to assume control to creatively fill in the logical gaps.
Seems like you'd still be living in fantasy even if the right side was properly developed.

Also... are we suggesting video games don't inspire creative development? I mean... they're a part of this new tech age.

 

[Chapbass]

I'll be honest, I can see it in some heavy computer users. That said, it could be the people that are primarily left brain thinkers are the people that use computers a lot, not the other way around.

Still though, thats why I try to balance my computer hobby with my music hobby

 

[Red Storm]

Fox "News" is scared shitless of this though.

lol this is what I first thought of.

 

[jhansman]

Sorry, 1st world problem. These dorks just need to spend a week in a place where *true* suffering is occurring.

 

[Wyndru]

Whenever I read articles like this I immediately imagine them being read by Debbie Downer

 

[ultimatebob]

Fox "News" is scared shitless of this though.

I love watching science stories on Fox News... they have to explain what's going on like they were talking to a four year old!

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Wasn't it the Republican party that said critical and rational thinking was bad?
And isn't the Republican party said to be quite right-wing?
And isn't Fox News generally said to be quite right-wing?

So, isn't this good news for them?

 

[Mixolydian]

The left side of the brain is generally associated with rational thought, numerical computation and fact finding,

So this is a good thing, then... :hmm:

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I imagine there's a divide where older people are better able to retain knowledge and younger people are better able to piece together scattered pieces of information into a coherent fact. I wouldn't call the change "dementia." It's just different ways of utilizing what we have.

 

[stargazr]

Whenever I read articles like this I immediately imagine them being read by Debbie Downer

http://instantrimshot.com/index.php?sound=downer&play=true

 

[Crono]

So this is a good thing, then... :hmm:

It's analysis versus synthesis. They might be better at processing a lot of information at once (multitasking) but at the cost of original thought and imagination... and probably focus as well.

 

[kranky]

It's analysis versus synthesis. They might be better at processing a lot of information at once (multitasking) but at the cost of original thought and imagination... and probably focus as well.

"Multitasking" is not a skill. It's a PC word for "can't stay focused".

I grant that being able to handle multiple sensory inputs would have to be great for playing video games or driving an Indy Car. In the workplace, it's hardly an asset. Our best programmers do not multitask. They have focus like you wouldn't believe.

Our younger workers who pride themselves on being great multitaskers (by their own admission during interviews) do not seem to be able to do work with depth. For example, a quality training document will probably need 3 thorough revisions. The "multitaskers" bang out a first draft, skim it over once with some edits and pronounce themselves finished. Then when I send it back with a couple things to fix on every page, they are surprised at how many things I find. I tell them that 90% of what I found should have been fixed before it got to me and it's actually sloppy work. They had all the time they needed to do it right, but they can't stay focused.

I think it was a recent issue of Fast Company that had a cover story about the guy who unplugged from everything for a month - he even stopped tweeting pictures of what he was eating for dinner! . And he was amazed at how much clearly he could analyze things, among other benefits. And Fast Company is typically a magazine that has an attitude that "good enough is good enough" and doing 10 things half-assed is better than doing 3 things right, because speed is the most important thing in business. Their heroes are people who start a company while in college, using college resources, have three blogs, tweet 10 times a day, speak at entrepreneur events every month, and work out of their apartment so they can work 18 hour days and not have to commute anywhere. They never question whether they could have a more successful business if they only worked 10 hours a day and skipped all the other stuff that is just sucking up their time.

When people begin to understand that multitasking is not a skill or a necessarily desirable way to exist, maybe we can all benefit.

 

[JimmiG]

This excess use of technology leads to unbalanced brain development, as heavy users are more likely to overdevelop their left brains, leaving their right brains underdeveloped.

Sounds like the brain is just doing what it has evolved to do. Adapt.

 

[OverVolt]

"Multitasking" is not a skill. It's a PC word for "can't stay focused".

I grant that being able to handle multiple sensory inputs would have to be great for playing video games or driving an Indy Car. In the workplace, it's hardly an asset. Our best programmers do not multitask. They have focus like you wouldn't believe.

Our younger workers who pride themselves on being great multitaskers (by their own admission during interviews) do not seem to be able to do work with depth. For example, a quality training document will probably need 3 thorough revisions. The "multitaskers" bang out a first draft, skim it over once with some edits and pronounce themselves finished. Then when I send it back with a couple things to fix on every page, they are surprised at how many things I find. I tell them that 90% of what I found should have been fixed before it got to me and it's actually sloppy work. They had all the time they needed to do it right, but they can't stay focused.

I think it was a recent issue of Fast Company that had a cover story about the guy who unplugged from everything for a month - he even stopped tweeting pictures of what he was eating for dinner! . And he was amazed at how much clearly he could analyze things, among other benefits. And Fast Company is typically a magazine that has an attitude that "good enough is good enough" and doing 10 things half-assed is better than doing 3 things right, because speed is the most important thing in business. Their heroes are people who start a company while in college, using college resources, have three blogs, tweet 10 times a day, speak at entrepreneur events every month, and work out of their apartment so they can work 18 hour days and not have to commute anywhere. They never question whether they could have a more successful business if they only worked 10 hours a day and skipped all the other stuff that is just sucking up their time.

When people begin to understand that multitasking is not a skill or a necessarily desirable way to exist, maybe we can all benefit.

Agreed 100%

My ability to concentrate is massively enhanced by reading (actual paper books) too. It seems to calm your mind, its more important than ever to read for fun IMO but it seems like people read less than ever. I don't really consider skimming news articles or forums as actual reading. Kind of the opposite really.