Steve Young with RE/MAX Associates posts

Digital Technology
by Kerby Anderson

Howard Rheingold, author of Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, recommends
a “mindful use of digital media.” That means we should be aware of what is attracting
our attention. He says you should be making decisions instead of “letting the tweet or the
buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention.”

Gary Small, a brain researcher at UCLA, has found that digital technology is
changing our brains. Since the human brain changes in response to the environment, our
use of the technology alters our brain pathways. He has documented this through MRIs
and has reported his findings in scientific journals.

Larry Rosen, author of iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With
Technology and Overcoming its Hold on Us, says that technology is causing some people
to exhibit various psychological disorders. This would include addiction, depression,
narcissistic personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is concerned that
we have become too enmeshed with these technologies.

Psychiatrist Steve Daviss of the Baltimore Washington Medical Center says of the
feedback we get from digital technology, “The retweets and bings and pings that come
out of the phone every time somebody sends us a text message—create a reward system
in the brain that gives us a little squirt of dopamine each time.” For some people, this can
lead to something that looks like addiction as their brains respond to digital technology.
These are just a few experts who are concerned about the effects of digital
technology on our lives. And I am even more concerned about their impact on a younger
generation whose brains are being rewired in ways we can’t even imagine. I’m Kerby
Anderson, and that’s my point of view.