Nagathushara Arja

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1104-037

25 April, 2017

The Digital State of Mind

Look around and spot one person who isnt using either a smartphone, laptop, or a digital

device of some sort. The possibility of not finding a portable device is a rare comet. There are

definitely advantages to the progression of technology, but often too many benefits are

overlooked by the drawbacks. The way in which the brain is developing in the age of

information, constantly being assaulted by lit up screens, is extremely different in comparison to

the older generation because of the constant interaction with technology. Indeed, technology

allows individuals to grow independently by operating as a learning tool, but simultaneously acts

as a controlling factor over the minds of todays lives.

The progression of digital technology divides attention into multiple categories, leading

to problems like ADD or ADHD(Restak, New Brain 42). Because of ADD or ADHD, the

attention span of an individual begins to slow down, which affects his or her ability to focus on

certain tasks. In addition to disorders, the continuous use of technology over the years enforces

individuals to respond quickly and more accurately, alternatively causing a decrease in the

amount of material absorbed. The pressure to respond in short intervals of time reduces the

amount of information grasped as the frontal lobes shift attention, which like a domino, effects

multitasking abilities. For example, imagine writing an email and talking on the phone at the

same time. As easy as it is to think that this is possible, it is important to recognize that it is not

because you are not paying full attention to one task. Both tasks involve a way of communication
through either the speech or written word and that uses the same region of the brain, which is

forcing the brain to compete in areas amongst itself. This is where the rapid switching between

tasks comes in as the brain does a quick Listen to phone. Switch. Check email. Switch. The

transition from one task to another takes up to seven-tenths of a second to redirect focus,

resulting in a loss of time, leading to inefficiency(Restak, New Brain 55). According to Restak,

a neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, the constant need to be in two places at once, such as

mentally on the phone with one person, and physically elsewhere involves heavy involvement of

the mind, in turn causing brains to restructure themselves and accommodate to a world of

multiple identity.

The life of a student to manage their time is crucial to their success, but managing time

does not necessarily have to be linked with multi-tasking. Anyone familiar with being situated in

a room of never ending lectures by a professor with a monotonous voice can agree that attention

is easily diverted to mobile devices. Being checked out of the lecture for a little while in order to

check phones leads to a constant process of refocusing. By the time you refocus, critical material

is already missed, therefore, it would be best to focus on one task at a time by giving full

attention to it. This could come into use when studying for exams as well, to put phones away

and focus on one material at a time. Pushing away phones, ipads, laptops during the time of

studying will prevent distraction and successfully help retain information in a more efficient

manner, along with saving valuable time.

Association with daily technology can introduce changes in lifestyle, specifically

introducing new patterns in sleep cycles. Gene Block, UCLA chancellor, claims that melatonin,

leptin and an increase in ghrelin, caused by bright-light technology make a dramatic impact on

the amount of sleep an individual gets. Screens on smartphones, laptops, ipads, tablets emit blue
light which affect sleep cycles and in the long term cause visionary damage. Blue, being a

warmer color of light contains more energy, and being that high in energy can cause damage to

the retina and cause a permanent loss of vision. As bad as this sounds, precautions can be taken

in order to prevent such exposure to the blue wavelengths at night. An individual can avoid

screen time for about three hours before going to bed, wear blue-blocking glasses when working

with digital screens at night, or expose oneself to immense amount of bright light during the day

to boost the ability to sleep at night.

Gene Blocks acknowledgement on bright glare affecting sleep cycles is extremely useful

because it sheds light on the difficult problem of avoiding screen time during night hours in the

first place. Im quite sure that this is relatable to everyone in hold of a digital device at home,

that just a few more minutes of scrolling through social media or watching videos on youtube

in reality extends to a few hours. About 72 percent of children ages six to 17 sleep with at least

one electronic device in their bedroom, which leads to getting less sleep on school nights

compared with other kids (Ware, "How Technology Impacts Sleep Quality). It seems

completely harmless in the moment to go through a few tabs, but before you know it, bedtime

that was supposed to happen at 11 pm is now bed time at 2 am, which is worth neither the dark

circles under eyes nor the cranky days with friends and family.

It is incredibly one-sided to point out only the flaws about growing technology when it

has many functions for the growth of individuals in a positive direction, rather than just

disrupting the mind. For example, virtual reality is being used in the medical field, improving

sensory motors and networks of the brain. Virtual reality systems allow for the interaction in

various environments, improving cognitive function. Sensory stimulation through VR is meant to

target parts of the brain such as the motor areas and explore dysfunctions as well as trigger
neuroplastic changes (Adamovich, SV, et al.). A tragic, real life example would be if someone

got into an accident and is having a hard-time recovering after surgery, that is when virtual

reality can come into play to help the individual participate in settings and activities in which

they have encountered in real life, before their incident. It is a way of neurorehabilitation, which

is basically a medical process to recover nervous system injury.

Although technology has its benefits, it remains to have incredible influence and

dependency on individuals of todays society, especially the newer generation; the children. In

the article, Children, Wired for Better and for Worse, the authors argue that children are so

dependent on digital technology that it affects their cognitive development, especially in

immature brains. They suggest that the developing brain is more malleable in response to

experience than is the adult brain which is why the primary focus surrounds younger individuals

(Bavelier, D, et al.). Challenging this article, some specialists may oppose the idea by proposing

arguments that children shows like Dora the explorer, Blue's Clues, Arthur, Clifford, Sesame

Street and many more actually improve vocabulary skills and knowledge by having children be

engaged in the show. A childs participation is involved when they are asked to point at the

screen, repeat and answer questions from the show, which shows an increase in their vocabulary

skills if they are of ages two and older. After age two, a child watching educational t.v shows

improves his or her problem-solving, math, science, and literacy skills according to doctor David

Hill, a pediatrician.

Although that claim is supported with sufficient evidence from an M.D specialist in child

care, the same specialist advocates for the overuse of television in toddlers, around the age of 18

months. Everybody has most probably witnessed a toddler, whether it be a sibling, cousin,

niece/nephew, or simply someone you were designated to watch over, cry for an ipad or t.v
during their meal time. Some toddlers stubborn their way into their desire for screen time during

their meals so much that as an empathetic adult, or so we like to be called, give in very quickly.

At that moment we dont put in much thought to it because in reality who wants to deal with

whining toddlers? But if we take a minute to think about the lasting consequences of that

momentary decision, we will be able to advance or at the least not hinder a childs memory span,

language development, and reading skills. A child, especially at the age of 18 months learns best

by interactions between their parent or surroundings, and effortless things such as constantly

having the television run in the background reduces the amount of words a parent speaks to their

toddler from 940 to 770 words per hour, as certified by Dr. Hill. Less words directly corresponds

with less learning, therefore a delay in language development, and respectively dealing with

reduced attention spans in prolonged periods.

The star of digital technology, video games, are undoubtedly a major form of

entertainment, especially for adolescents and young adults. Needless to say that they can be so

addicting to the point of overtaking the time dedicated to other important things such as

homework or a significant other. Addiction to the screen is explained in a Tedtalk given by Susan

Greenfield, a neurologist when she says that Dopamine inhibits the prefrontal cortex, so intense

video screening time stimulates a fast response, which means there is a drive for a sentation of a

cognition in which the screen will offer you something that perhaps the real world doesn't, so

youll go onto watch the video. Because of an addiction to video games, we have all, at some

point of our lives gotten into trouble for overusing it, but from an avid gamers point of view,

nobody is to be blamed for.

Now, what we could observe in a video gamer is that their repeated actions of pressing

certain buttons, aiming, firing, etc can act as a precondition for long-term potentiation which is
basically the strengthening of synapses between nerve cells to improve learning and memory

(Gentile Douglas, Cerebrum). In addition to that, gamers have the advantage of distinguishing

the color gray which can help on foggy days or night time driving, along with another benefit of

being able to pick out minute details on a screen.

As reasonable as it is to say that video games pose as an enhancer of brain development

to the medium audience, there is also evidence to the correlation of violent video games to

aggression. When an individual is playing an action game such as Call of Duty (COD), the

moment before he or she fires at an opponent is when they display an increase in their dorsal

anterior cingulate cortex, which has to do with cognitive control. Whereas, moments right after

the firing, players show a decrease of activity in their rACC, which deals with emotion and

decision-making regulation of the brain. Because there is less emotion involved when firing and

shooting at characters in the video game, there is an automatic suppression to emotional response

when witnessing any type of violent action (Gentile Douglas, Cerebrum). Therefore, anybody,

especially adolescents and young adults who engage in violent action games become

desensitized to violence, not only during screen time, but also in the real world.

Another problem with the age of modern technology is the creation of digital dementia,

which is the overuse in todays technology leading to a breakdown of cognitive abilities in

individuals. Remembering little things like phone numbers are a burden because the left-

hemisphere of the brain is over developed in comparison to the right-hemisphere which is

underdeveloped. Due to the imbalanced development of the brain, minds of individuals are

affected with their learning abilities as they are limited to their capacity, for the reason that

people are heavily dependent on digital technology (Davis, 2014). At first glance the term

dementia is connected with the elderly because dementia leading to alzheimer's is most often
associated with the elderly. Dementia that is associated with digital technology however is more

focused on the younger individuals who find it hard to retain information because they simply do

not feel the need to memorize information, especially when they have easy access to phones that

store the information for them.

The natural instinct when in confusion or when stuck on an unanswered question is to

look it up on the internet, in hope to find immediate answers. Clearly there is no strain there, but

it continues to affect short-term memory in the long run for individuals who are solely dependent

on their phones. The most classic resort to the internet that I crossed on several occasions are

myself, along with fellow classmates who have the tendency to sparknote main ideas of assigned

books for class. Granted, some readers might argue that there are valid reasons for that, whether

it be procrastination, busy schedules, lack of time management skills, or other student life things

that allow us to turn to the internet for answers. Regardless of the excuse, the result at the end of

the day is that we in fact do resort to instant technology, seeking brief abstracts about a certain

book. What if we avoided doing that and instead allowed ourselves to go about the traditional

means of actually reading the entire book? Yes, the number of eye rolls will exceed the minute,

but being able to recall the information acquired from thoroughly reading the book versus getting

a quick synopsis from online is far more beneficial for the progression of memory and the

grasping of ideas.

Technology, a great tool to improve the quality of life, is useful in countless ways in the

fields of science, engineering and so on, but to say that there are no negative effects is not the

least bit agreeable. Once upon a time, an hour dedicated to reading allowed for intense

imagination and memory, but it is evident as to how the increasing distractions from televisions,

ipads, and phones are starting to take away that creativity and attention spans in people. Not only
are they affecting cognition, but also show a downward result in visionary damage, and eye

strain which show a positive correlation with disruptions in sleep cycles. Excessive use of

technology is rewiring our brains and allowing us to be dependent to the point that we rely on

wireless technology for simple daily tasks such as an outlet for information storage. It affects

people of all ages, as little as 12 months to however long you allow yourself to use it. Certainly

use technology as a resource, but do not misuse it to the point of vulnerable distraction, do not

become a slave of digital technology, and most definitely do not let it control your mind.
 Work Cited

Adamovich, Sergei V., Gerard G. Fluet, Eugene Tunik, and Alma S. Merians. "Sensorimotor Training in

Virtual Reality: A Review." NeuroRehabilitation. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2009. Web.

24 Apr. 2017.

Bavelier, Daphne, C. Shawn Green, and Matthew W. G. Dye. "Children, Wired for Better and for

Worse." Neuron. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 09 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Cerebrum." Video Games Affect the Brain-for Better and Worse. N.p., 23 July 2009. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Cook, Jia-Rui. "Digital Technology Can Be Harmful to Your Health." UCLA Newsroom. N.p., 29 Mar.

2016. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Game Theory: How Do Video Games Affect the Developing Brains... : Neurology Now." LWW. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Restak, Richard M. Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era. The New Brain: How the

Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind. Emmaus, Pa: Rodale, 2003. Print.

Technology & the Human Mind. Dir.TEDxTalks. Perf. Susan Greenfield. YouTube, 03 July 2014. Web.

05 Apr. 2017.

Ware, Arista. "How Technology Impacts Sleep Quality." Sleep.Org. Sleep.Org, 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 24

Apr. 2017.

"What Is Digital Dementia." Vimeo. N.p., 22 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Why to Avoid TV for Infants & Toddlers." HealthyChildren.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.