This is why the Soul Online needs to exist. I know whats described here is true because I experience it myself. Do you? When paying partial continuous attention [of the sort we experience online by continually staying busy — keeping tabs on everything while never truly focusing on anything], people may place their brains in a heightened state of stress. They no longer have time to reflect, contemplate, or make thoughtful decisions. Instead, they exist in a state of constant crisis — on alert for a new contact or a bit of exciting news or information in any moment. Once people get used to this state, they tend to thrive on the perpetual connectivity. It feeds their egos and sense of self-worth, and it becomes irresistible. ... But at some point, the sense of control and self-worth we feel when we maintain partial continuous attention tends to break down — our brains were not built to maintain such monitoring for extended time periods. Eventually, the endless hours of unrelenting digital connectivity can create a unique type of brain strain. ... In the short run, these stress hormones boost energy levels and augment memory, but over time they actually impair cognition, lead to depression, and alter the neural circuitry in ... the brain regions that control mood and thought. The answer, in my opinion, is not to dismiss technology and its advancements out of hand but rather to learn how to use them responsibly. I was thinking today about how the Internet could be likened to a car — a two-ton hunk of metal with huge potential but which is quite dangerous if we dont understand how it works or develop the skills needed to master our use of it. (Quote taken from the essay entitled Your Brain Is Evolving Right Now in The Digital Divide: Arguments For and Against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking.)
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:18:11 +0000
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