DESCRIPTION:
We've all been looking at our screens longer than ever due to the pandemic,
but what is that doing to our brains?
TRANSCRIPT:
Just imagine what life would be without the Internet. Some of us actually remember
the time before everything was connected but the thought of living without
smartphones maps where search engines ran at our fingertips now seems
completely alien to us but how is our increasing reliance on the online world
affecting us our relationships sources of information in the way we interact
with each other is rapidly changing and there are even noticeable effects
occurring within our brains with more and more devices relying
on the internet it's no surprise that worldwide access is continually increasing
in 2016 an estimated 3.5 billion people across the world access online
services the top three countries were China with 721 million users followed
by India and then the US with 290 million users by far the most common
language used online is English followed by Chinese and Spanish the reliance
on using the Internet is clearly changing across
generations mainly depending on those who had to adapt to the new
technology or those who grew up with that being readily accessible
Generation X Internet users who were born between the mid 1960s and
early 1980s logged an average of a hundred and ten minutes of mobile
internet usage each day while Millennials who were born from the early
80s onward and grew up with the internet locked in the average of a hundred
and eighty five minutes per day social media and messaging
apps have become crucial to how we live our lives and communicate
with more than a billion people regularly using apps like whatsapp and
even more using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter now with
increasing use of Internet services it seems only natural that our behavior
is changing as well communication through these platforms is far more
common which means phone calls and text messages are dropping
in popularity and the use of online shopping and services has caused
a sharp decline in the uses of
traditional high street stores our towns
and cities are starting to look very different to a few decades ago and
this can all be attributed to what's now available
online so how is all this affecting our brains with such a wealth of information
at our fingertips the prevalence of the Internet is changing away our work
millenials for example have been found to be far more forgetful than previous
generations this is thought to be a direct result of the constant distractions
that connectivity brings the basic principle behind memory is that the more
a piece of information is repeated and thought about in your short-term
memory the stronger its stored within your long-term memory
constant new information however prevents this process from taking place
as effectively and far less is permanently stored further to this the knowledge
that information is readily available online means that you're less likely to form
a memory of it while previous generations would have memorized directions on
a map for example now there's a reliance on being able to access this GPS
app on your fault we're also becoming more addicted to our smartphones
constant glances to check for messages where updates means that we're
becoming more and more used to developing a habit of being distracted our
brains are less used to transitioning into deeper modes of thinking
which makes it more difficult to do this when we need to some research has also
shown that the constant flow of information has meant that we are losing cognitive
control this means not only is our ability to control our minds reducing but also our
ability to decide what we're thinking about the more you rely on your phone and an
app to provide information to you the less you are able to determine what's
important to focus on we are increasingly more concerned with information
that's new as opposed to what's actually important so what can be done
although technology is clearly affecting the way our brains work it's not
necessarily a bad thing throughout history inventions have always enabled
us to focus less on one thing so our time can be used somewhere else
washing machines for example means that people spend far less time on
cleaning clothes so these extra hours each day are taken up by work or other
activities similarly so the ability to communicate and find information
much faster on the internet means that we have extra mental capacity for other
processes still reducing our screen time can help to keep our brains more active
and malleable and it's a good idea to be aware of how much time you're spending
on distractions each day so my advice to keep track of how much time you're
spending a lie and you know unplug every once in a while you.
QUESTIONS:
1. As per the video, how does the Internet affect our brain?
2. How long have you been using the internet? Why?
3. What social media do you use these days?