Technology and the Brain: ysabetwordsmith

Technology and the Brain

I found this article interesting, but I have mixed feelings. I can understand a certain amount of concern about too much exposure to technology, but ...

Scientists Fear Technology May Be Rewiring Our Brains

When the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation, Small asserts.

So brain circuits involved in face-to-face contact can become weaker, he suggests. That may lead to social awkwardness, an inability to interpret nonverbal messages, isolation and less interest in traditional classroom learning.

... this really sounds like the anti-bookworm propaganda some teachers heaped on me when I was younger, because I preferred the company of books to that of the banal little beasts they called my classmates. And while I've got some nearby friends, frankly I prefer the company of online folks to most of the locals, because the Midwest is not exactly a hotbed of culture and brilliance. The scientists may have a point in there somewhere, but if they want to sell it to intellectuals, boy howdy they'd better find a better way to phrase it.

Devil's Advocate Jaguar, Reporting for Duty!

haikujaguar

December 10 2008, 13:02:34 UTC 12 years ago

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Personal observation has taught me that, yes, people's social skills do deteriorate when they are stuck in cubicles and work with computers all day. I've felt it happening to me: when I am isolated too long with only a computer for company, being among real people is stressful. Real people can't be paused; they don't come in short, easily-processed discrete bits; they can't be switched off or multi-tasked through. They are an analog experience, requiring patience and concentrated attention.

We can ignore this, if we like... but in my experience it leads to intense loneliness. We need physicality. We need to lie beside someone at night. We need to know what people smell like. A lot of geeks I know play up the wonders of the Internet social life... but then go home and discover that their empty apartments fill them with desolation and sadness... and that the internet has not equipped them with the social tools to go out and meet flesh-and-blood people with all their inconvenient real-time irritants, woo them and bring them home to make a life-in-tandem, as most of us desire.

I think we do ourselves a disservice, if we rely too much on virtual people for companionship. Until we evolve a reciprocal ability to get all our emotional needs from people we can't touch, hug, lean on, have sex with, or sleep nestled against, we will need the social skills that are atrophying right now.