Smartphones are rewiring our brains
With beeps, buzzes and chimes alerting us to
crucial intelligences like the latest software updates
we'll regret installing, and our work colleague's
groundbreaking new profile picture, our mastery of
concentration is slipping away. Focus is becoming a
lost art. One study reported that adults between the
ages of 18 and 33 interact with their phones an
astounding 85 times a day, spending about 5 hours
doing so. Interestingly, their usage was largely
unconscious. They all thought they spent about half
the time. For Larry Rosen, a psychologist at
Califórnia State University, smartphones are really
influencing our behavior.
Benjamim Storm, a psychologist at the
University of Califórnia says: “The scope of the
amount of information we have at our fíngertips is
beyond anything we've ever experienced. The
temptation to become reliant on it seems to be
greater”. One of his studies offered strong evidence
that the more students were allowed to use the internet
to answer questions, the more they were prone to
continue to use the internet, even when the questions
became easier. “Some people think memory is
absolutely declining as a result of us using
technology”, he says. “Others disagree”. Based on the current data, though, I don't think we can really make
strong conclusions one way or the other”.
(Adapted and abridged from: http://www.cbc.ca)
In the excerpt “[...] the more they were prone to
continue to use the internet [...]”, the word in bold
means: