Information technology usage may be making us dumber by impairing and possibly damaging our brains.
From the wheel to the printing press and the International Space Station, advancing technology has allowed civilization to grow and achieve great things. But there is a dark side to technology — especially information technology. Despite obvious benefits — enhanced and instant communication with each other and vast information sharing — emerging evidence shows that usage comes with a great health cost.
Every time you engage with a screen, you are fundamentally reshaping your brain — and not necessarily for the better. Ironically, the technologies that are heralded to make our lives easier, such as email and instant messengers, are actually driving the increase in multitasking distractions.
For example, increased distraction is a common impairment of technology usage. Research has shown that mentally switching tasks decreases your brain’s processing efficiency by half. A University of California Los Angeles study found that the average employee takes about 25 minutes to return to the same level of concentration after each interruption, leading to huge productivity losses.
Chronic multitasking with technology appears to be taking a severe biological and psychological toll. Former Microsoft vice-president Linda Stone, who coined the term “continuous partial attention,” suggests that constantly switching between tasks has led to a pathological state of inattention to any given task. Office workers switch their attention every three minutes on average, and most of these interruptions are self-initiated.
This constant need for stimulation can heighten stress and anxiety, which then activate an adrenaline rush and release of brain-damaging stress hormones.
Most alarming is mounting evidence that technology is impairing not only our ability to pay attention, but to learn. Using brain scans, UCLA professor Gary Small has demonstrated that multitasking over-stimulates and burns out regions of the brain responsible for directing attention (prefrontal cortex). This prevents our ability to access memories and learn new things.
Chinese researchers have found that adolescents who are chronic gamers are exposed to high levels of distraction that causes physical damage to the brain areas that focus attention and learning.
In the face of these studies, I believe we need to apply caution in our embrace of information technology, and adapt more mindful habits and limitations in our use. Health regulators should address this with new policies and should be monitoring these health trends closely.
Paul Mohapel is an associate faculty member in the areas of executive education and leadership at Royal Roads University. His research interests include the biological and social aspects of leadership.
