#pamelalund

Our world is quickly moving toward a future where we will lose our ability to think for ourselves, and therefore lose our brains as well.

Circuitry Rewiring, and You

While some might argue that connection to technology will improve our lives, Nicholas Carr, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and best selling author, speaks out against it. He argues that by becoming dependent on it, we become a part of the technology we use. Technology replaces our need to think for ourselves, and we lose valuable skills in the process.

Through years of use, we slowly change our brains and the way we think. We create new neural paths in our brains that are wired for quick thinking rather than deep thought. More now than ever, people become impatient in short amounts of time and can’t focus on detailed tasks.

Constant connection rewires our brains and changes the way we interact with the world.

Lowered Performance: The New Norm

As a society we have devalued and removed the need for deep thought and reflection. Even in academics, few students read whole textbooks any more. People who are considered the intellectually elite in our nation are incapable of sitting through a required text.

Even at a lower level, kids are being diagnosed with ADHD in higher numbers than ever. Some believe excessive use of technology may  “[erode] a child’s ability to focus attentively when [they are] back in the ho-hum, real-time world.” (Alderman)

Pamela Lund: Mindset of Positivity

Some, such as Pamela Lund, author of Massively Networked, argue that this connection will allow us to improve society. Through an inter-connected society we can improve medical help, social interaction, and even the way that we impact the environment. She argues that in order for society to move forward, we must embrace change and use it to our advantage.

Reality Kicks In

While Lund takes a positive look at the future of technology, she fails to discuss its impact on our thinking. Gone are the days when people memorized information and called each other on the phone. We have a strong reliance on our technology that blinds us, and can potentially put us in danger.

We have become socially inept, and hide behind the screens of our computers and phones when dealing with the world. We assume that technology will save us in times of crisis and confusion; yet these assumptions require the use of internet access and a battery charge.

False Security: Technology Drawbacks

Teenagers are traditionally seen as the age group of stupidity, due to their lack of life experience. Yet if you were to ask an adult which numbered exit on the highway would bring you back to the other side, standard teaching in driver’s ed class, most wouldn’t know the answer. Neither would the teens.

GPS has replaced our need for simple directional knowledge, and most people rely on it. We fail to memorize directions, and have difficulty finding new destinations. We flounder without our technology.

Even things like safety are taken for granted. We look things up on our phone when we don’t know what to do, or we ask someone who knows. What about Hydroplaning? Slipping on ice? Try googling that before you hit the guard rail.

Dangerous Paths: What We’re Losing

Society has devalued the need to remember important information. Our phones are our source of information nowadays, not our brains. We have become a part of our machines by using our technology, and we forgo our ability to survive on our own. New generations believe that their way of life is superior, but society is forgetting the value of old ways of living.

Today’s society would flounder without its new brain; one that can easily be taken away. Therein lies the danger of relying on an outside source of information. Times of crisis and times without access to power quickly cripple those who rely too heavily on technology.

By letting machines take hold of the work our brains are meant to do, we lose not only our skills, but our identities as well. As we move forward in time, we lose the skills that have gotten us to this point. Without those skills we become dumb, and move backward rather than forward.

Works Cited

Alderman, Lesley. "Does Technology Cause ADHD?" EverydayHealth.com. Ed. Kevin O. Hwang. Everyday Health Media LLC, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. Mar. 2015. Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

New technologies emerge every day and change our lives.  Companies compete to get the newest, coolest devices out the fastest.  All these new toys are changing the way that we think as individuals and as a society, and we are adjusting to these changes to reap the benefits.

Whether or not these changes are good has been debated at length by writers, such as Pamela Lund and Nicholas Carr, scientests and even the general public have opinions on these changes.  I believe that the changes that are happening to our brains are more than just good, they are progressing us as a society.

Technology Duality

Our ability to concentrate on one thing at a time is going down.  On the flip side, we are better than ever at multitasking.  We have trouble socializing with strangers in the real world, but are socially networked with everyone we have ever met.

In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr laments how the creation of new tech is changing the world.  I believe that this change is progress.  True, our obsession with getting the newest gadget, and moving to the best area, has contributed to our environmental troubles. 

But there is a lag in progress whenever something big changes our society.

Connected Age

Our new connectedness is allowing us to share more than ever.  We are able to get info to each other without the government or news stations helping us.  We know the truth about violence in India, and the educational system in Europe. 

I know that if I lived in India I would be at a higher risk of violence, rape, murder, and oppression.  And if I lived in Europe, I wouldn’t be struggling to afford my higher education.  All we need is some random person somewhere to post some information online and that info could easily go viral.

Advantages and disadvantages to technology can be seen all around us.  Children who spend their time playing a lot of video games have higher reflexes.  But these same children have lost their ability to connect to nature, and tend to have problems with obesity.

People have become accustomed to instant information.  They are happy to know a little bit of everything, but not a lot about one thing.  Where is the middle ground?

What are the solutions to these disadvantages? 

Moderation

My generation has seen the highest jump in technology.  We operate with it like it is a part of our being. 

But we are becoming adults and seeing the consequences to constant tech. 

The newest generation are being raised by the first wave of parents who had their own videogames, TV’s, and computers while growing up.  These same parents, who were plopped down in front of the TV as children, are consistently finding ways to give their children the best of both worlds. 

My nephew is five years old.  He watches TV, he craves to learn to read new books, he dances to music, he builds with Legos, and he plays outside.  He has moderation in his childhood. 

We are learning in response to technology that technology is good when used in moderation.

New Minds

Technology will help us make the world a better place.  Sure, it will change the way that we act, but this is natural.

Society changed with the discovery of fire.  With the ability to tell time, to travel around the world on boats, with planes, trains, and cars.  Oil has changed our world.  The advent of cities, of the minting of money, the ability to write, and the invention of the telephone have all changed the world and society and we always made it work.  The same thing will happen with this ‘Connected Age’ and our changed minds.

Change is natural, and we always adapt.