Students' Brains Re-wired by Internet
"British students are unable to 
concentrate on reading an academic book because the internet is 're-wiring' their brains a new documentary claims".
Take a look at the article. Hold any validity? (from your experience)?
6 comments:
Very valid Neuro. This affect on children’s brains does ring a bell. Maybe from Cog lectures in year 2. With the growth of child obesity and excessive internet/computer game use I really do believe kids today are missing out.
I know I am beginning to sound like an old soldier but I really do believe I grew up in better times especially when I lived abroad and we didn’t even have television. We played games and were active. I read books and used my imagination. These were the happiest periods of my childhood. However kids today have a whole new playground called cyberspace which I am sure many would argue is better. Books/movies and dare I say it blogs predict the downfall of human civilisation at the hands of artificial intelligence etc. Is the only salvation for the human race a new Dark Age or do we have the ability to control the technology rather than let it control us? Being a child of the nuclear age I guess there should be optimism that we have this capacity but as I write a terrorist is probably purchasing an atomic bomb from the USSR Army Surplus store in Kabul.
Oh so true Spumpkin, and oh so sad, I think! Imagination expands the mind and our children today don't seem to want to try and imagine, they want it done for them, letting someone or something else do all the creating, whilst they jsut play with the end products. This flitting or bouncing from just one snippet to another on the internet, has absolutely no comparison to a book, it can fascilitate one to find information, but theres no substance. Reading books, espescially story books, from an early age, teaches us about there being a beginning, a middle and an ending, completion. Surely from a students point of view this is extremely important when it comes to writing essays. I too am from a world where books were part of everyday lfe, and I still cherish books dearly, and find it sad that so many young people never pick up a book, just for the sheer pleasure and indulgence of losing oneself in an imaginary place(created by themselves). Anyone who's never read books is missing so much. The article shows us a future where our children will think they have it all, and yet have so little. Pick up a book today, everyone!
"...do we have the ability to control the technology rather than let it control us?"
But that's the key with everything, isn't it? Moderation and balance. Taking the best of whatever a medium of learning, socializing, entertainment has to offer while maintaining a steady (and grounded) eye on the spectrum of alternative life activities and determinedly rejecting the temptation to wallow, hedonistically, in the toxic deep end of that medium. Problem is, humans (well SOME humans) can't maintain balance...or we wouldn;t have a society of millions of TV addicts (or binge drinkers).
My own opinion? The remarkably distinct, qualititatively different (and wonderful) affordances of meatspace will, for a long time to come, lure us back from down that rabbit hole. When technology approaches replicating that though, who knows? But then again, would it make a difference?
We're back to Blue Pill / Red Pill and Brain in a Vat territory.
(By the way, I liked my techno-free childhood too...and I'm quite enjoying my fairly balanced second childhood too) :)
Now...about these students and concentration problems due to 'cherry-picking the net' learning styles. Suggestions on a postcard, please ;)
It’s a sad day if anyone loses their inner child. Carry on having fun within reason. I am a big kid myself but I have decided to draw the line at relationships with vampires in second life ... maybe fear is the real obstacle.
As for Annalisa ..... well you have to give it a go.
*poke* ;-)
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