Just in from Reuters! “The Internet is not just changing the way people live but altering the way our brains work”!
Apparently this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy (That is you and me!) at the top of the new social order. Revenge of the nerds, yeah!
No need to use mind altering drugs anymore. Just surf the web. According to Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializes in brain function, Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.
As Gary explains: “We’re seeing an evolutionary change. The people in the next generation who are really going to have the edge are the ones who master the technological skills and also face-to-face skills, they will know when the best response to an email or Instant Message is to talk rather than sit and continue to email.”
A study of 24 adults as they used the Web found that experienced Internet users showed double the activity in areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning as Internet beginners. The researcher said the tech-savvy generation, whom he calls “digital natives,” are always scanning for the next bit of new information which can create stress and even damage neural networks.
I would like to write more about this story but my RSS feed and Mail inbox are attracting my attention now. Read the rest of the article yourself, in between Twittering and chatting, at Reuters.
This isn’t evolution, at least not in the biological sense. Just because you might be in the higher societal standing doesn’t mean you will have a competitive advantage and higher fitness (in fact, most people who are well off tend to have fewer children, not more).
I KNEW IT! I’ve been compiling lists of sociological changes I see in this next generation of kids and am convinced that its a big evolutionary leap, unseen and unexpected by our previously dominant paradigm.
Hmmm…
“The researcher said said the tech-savvy generation, whom he calls “digital natives,” are always scanning for the next bit of new information which can create stress and even damage neural networks.”
Where is the edge in the “stressed & damaged”? Is that just the collateral damage of that slippery thing called “progress”?
It is absolutely true that this evolutionary change has several advantages to the tech savvy, there is also a danger of losing ability to understand human emotions and body language. As the researcher said we should also develop the skill of maintaining the balance between this evolutionary change and social relationship.
Might it not be that these “digital natives” had become tech-savvy because they already were good at decision-making and complex reasoning?
Besides a study of only 24 adults hardly seems comprehensive.
Yeah we, the tech-savy generation, are awesome! Except for the fact that those of us living in the US will probably struggle to pay for college and then still not be able to get a job, or any kind of loan. And we just forget about social security. Ha
All you adults buying millions of things you don’t need with money you don’t have. Its all your fault.
yep you really screwed things for us. thanks