Susan Greenfield: living online is changing our brains
August 5, 2011 | Source: NewScientist
Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield cited evidence that digital technology is having an impact on our brains:
- A recent paper, Microstructure abnormalities in adolescents with internet addiction disorder, in the journal PLoS (free access).
- Increase in people with autistic spectrum disorders.
- The rise in the appeal of Twitter.
- A review by the cognitive scientist Daphne Bavelier (Children, Wired: For Better and for Worse) in the journalĀ Neuron, in which she says that this is a given, that the brain will change. She also reviews evidence showing there’s a change in violence, distraction and addiction in children, linked to the pervasiveness of technology.
- People are spending most of their waking hours using technology, mostly in isolation.
“We should be planning a 3-D environment for our children [to enjoy] instead of putting them in front of a 2-D one,” she advises.