Scientists warn: active use of modern technical means leads to intellectual degradation.
“A computer is electronic cocaine. It stimulates phases of manic arousal, followed by phases of depression,”cautions Los Angeles neurologist Peter Whybrow. Millions of people in the world cannot imagine their life without the Internet, mobile phone, smartphone, iPad and other electronic curiosities. A day, even an hour, without SMS messages or visiting a social networking site seems to be wasted.
A generation of digitale natives is growing up, born in the digital age and remembering times without the global web. People who have become addicted to electronic toys turn into cyborgs, talking to their own smartphone using Siri. The average American teenager sends 3,700 text messages a month, twice as many as in 2007.
Numerous studies prove that the Internet is dull and can even lead to depression and psychological distress. It is known that smartphone users, while waiting for a call, feel a phantom vibration, thinking that someone is calling or receiving a message. Smart young people are turning into slaves of the screen. “The Internet steals our souls, our brains get lost in clouds of data, hard drives and mobile phone memory rob us of what remains of our memory,” complained Bill Keller, editor-in-chief of the New York Times from 2003-2011.
Digital dementia
In Germany, the bestseller lists are topped by Digital Dementia. How we deprive ourselves and our children of reason. " Its author - Professor Manfred Spitzer (Manfred Spitzer) - medical director of the psychiatric university clinic in Ulm, Germany. He also has a philosophical background, taught at Harvard, and is considered one of the world's foremost scholars of the human brain. "Research has shown that a computer is necessary for learning, like a bicycle for swimming or an X-ray machine for trying on shoes," Spitzer said. And the Internet and other electronic toys primarily harm children.
When the era of television began, scientists warned that three hours in front of the screen increased the risk of weight gain and propensity for aggression. And it really happened. What can we say now that young people are in the digital world 7.5 hours a day?
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Digital technology relieves us of mental work. There is no need to remind you that an organ that is not used dies off. Unused connections between neurons in the brain are weakened. This is exactly what happens in the head of an Internet addict. Research by scientists from Columbia University in New York has proven that people who use Google and Wikipedia do not remember information, but only where it can be found. Of course, the network is a treasure trove of unique data, but there is much more garbage in it. You need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, and this requires knowledge. People who have not learned in traditional ways usually do not have them.
Advanced digital technologies have a negative impact on spatial orientation. London taxi drivers had to know by heart 25 thousand names of streets and thousands of squares earlier; during training, those areas of the brain that are responsible for orientation were enlarged. Nowadays, drivers use a satellite navigation system, which makes it increasingly difficult for them to find their way on their own or understand the map. The Internet also has a bad effect on memory: phone numbers and addresses are recorded on computers and mobile phones, and Facebook reminds us of the birthdays of relatives and friends. “Mnemonic processes no longer occur in our brain, since we transfer them to electronic devices,” Manfred Spitzer notes. Learning becomes more difficult. Anyone who works with the Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V method does not make any mental effort and quickly forgets everything.
Children do not receive sensory stimuli (taste, smell, touch). It is impossible to learn to speak well with video, because the sound and lip movements are not as perfectly synchronized as in life. Therefore, Professor Spitzer advises: children under three years old should be kept away from any screens, and computers in kindergartens are harmful.
The internet leads to loneliness. According to research by Stanford University, American girls aged 8-12 devote almost seven hours a day to online contacts, and only two hours a day to real meetings (and during them, of course, they send SMS). Electronic gadgets make us impatient, deprive us of the ability to calmly think. If a person has to stand in line at the cashier for even a couple of minutes, he immediately takes out his phone.
Concentration is weakened: after all, people turn on the Internet, TV, music at the same time, and the brain can be busy at any given moment with only one thought. Professor Spitzer emphasizes that in the brains of the Internet generation, the connections between neurons are becoming weaker. So online grown ups will likely have to deal with Alzheimer's, dementia and other degenerative brain diseases earlier.
Brain atrophy
Spitzer is surprised that this problem is being hushed up. “We panic when a few people get stomach upset from bacteria in the salad, but no one is worried that 250,000 young people (in Germany) with computer addiction are literally eliminated from real life. They are unhappy and good for nothing,”the scientist is indignant. He blames the current state of affairs on politicians who want to be elected and therefore do not come into conflict with Internet users. A huge share of the blame also lies with concerns: Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook and others strive to get rich, so they managed to convince people that digital happiness should be used even by preschoolers.
The theses of the German specialist seem to be confirmed by the studies of the Chinese scientists. In China, Taiwan and Singapore, computer addiction is considered a serious threat to the health of the nation. In special clinics in Beijing, patients were beaten and electrocuted until the authorities intervened. Chinese scientists claim that “white matter abnormalities” were found in the brains of Internet chronicles, as well as “negative changes in gray matter” - a 10-20% decrease in the area responsible for speech, memory and motor skills. The more time a particular person spent in the virtual world, the more signs of brain atrophy could be found in him.
According to many studies, digital technology can cause anxiety and even mental disorders. Scientists at the American Academy of Pediatrics have coined the term "Facebook Depression." Children who see photos of their happy smiling peers on this portal are upset because they feel that they cannot equal them. “This experience can become more painful than sitting alone in the school cafeteria, as Facebook distorts reality. It is impossible to see the facial expressions and body language online that create the context for events,”explains the distinguished Boston pediatrician and co-author of the study, Gwenn O'Keeffe.
Internet pishozes
The link between heavy Internet use and depressive disorders was also discovered by British scientists from the University of Leeds, who studied 1,319 people aged 16 to 51. Research team leader Dr. Katriona Morrison cautiously states: "For a relatively small group of people, heavy internet use can certainly serve as a warning sign that they are prone to depressive disorders." Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have found a relationship between sending multiple text messages, visiting social media and stress, depression, or suicidal thoughts. Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University claim to have discovered the first cases of psychoses caused by the Internet. These cases concern three women between the ages of 30 and 50,who formed relationships with men online. They didn't meet them in the real world, spent many hours online, mostly at night. All three had to resort to psychiatric help and medication. “These patients have found an emotional refuge and a source of positive feelings on the Internet. Their mental disorder manifested itself in impaired cognitive abilities, a state of anxiety, and inability to function in everyday life. One woman began hallucinations. We have descriptions of patients who suffered from computer-induced hallucinations. One man thought that someone wanted to poison him, and the poison gets into his fingers through the keyboard,”says psychiatrist Uri Nitzan. All three had to resort to psychiatric help and medication. “These patients have found an emotional refuge and a source of positive feelings on the Internet. Their mental disorder manifested itself in impaired cognitive abilities, a state of anxiety, and inability to function in everyday life. One woman began hallucinations. We have descriptions of patients who suffered from computer-induced hallucinations. One man thought that someone wanted to poison him, and the poison gets into his fingers through the keyboard,”says psychiatrist Uri Nitzan. All three had to resort to psychiatric help and medication. “These patients have found an emotional refuge and a source of positive feelings on the Internet. Their mental disorder manifested itself in impaired cognitive abilities, a state of anxiety, and inability to function in everyday life. One woman began hallucinations. We have descriptions of patients who suffered from computer-induced hallucinations. One man thought that someone wanted to poison him, and the poison gets into his fingers through the keyboard,”says psychiatrist Uri Nitzan. One woman began hallucinations. We have descriptions of patients who suffered from computer-induced hallucinations. One man thought that someone wanted to poison him, and the poison gets into his fingers through the keyboard,”says psychiatrist Uri Nitzan. One woman began hallucinations. We have descriptions of patients who suffered from computer-induced hallucinations. One man thought that someone wanted to poison him, and the poison gets into his fingers through the keyboard,”says psychiatrist Uri Nitzan.
Scientists warn, however, the rapid development of modern technology cannot be stopped. It is difficult to foresee what consequences it will have. The future will show what changes will occur in human evolution. The author of this article, for professional reasons, uses the Internet intensively, but he does not have a smartphone, to which he strongly prefers a good book, which he advises readers.
Jan Piaseczny