accumulating evidence
28 Aug
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
At the University of California, San Francisco, scientists have found that when rats have a new experience, like exploring an unfamiliar area, their brains show new patterns of activity. But only when the rats take a break from their exploration do they process those patterns in a way that seems to create a persistent memory of the experience.
The researchers suspect that the findings also apply to how humans learn.
“Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories,” said Loren Frank, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the university. He said he believed that when the brain was constantly stimulated, “you prevent this learning process.”
Even though people feel entertained, even relaxed, when they multitask while exercising, or pass a moment at the bus stop by catching a quick video clip, they might be taxing their brains, scientists say.
In all of these Carr-like articles we are talking about constant new digital stimulation, right? Not simply use of devices to, say, do work. It’s not really so much digital stimulation as stimulation period? If that’s the case it seems as with many things, to come down to an issue of self-control and discipline, whether you can resist the draw of the internet for the sake of your own health or sanity…
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