Sayed H AminCatherine Peterson’s Updates
Update 2: Is Technology Changing the Human Brain?
As I was reading about Piaget's four stages of development, I wondered how technology could potentially change how the brain develops not only at an individual level, but within generations of humans. The following video discuses what genius looked like thousands of years ago, and if technology is actually making humans less intelligent. I thought the questions it posed about how the brain develops and what is necessary for technology to develop as well was interesting.
I think there is an interesting problem here, in the sense that in order for technology to develop, the human brain needs to be innovative, problem solving and attentive. However, the technology we have today has made it easier for the brain to not have those qualities. It's an very interesting dichotomy that comes into play when considering brain development. How far is too far in regards to technological advances?
Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health say that the brain is developing until the age of 25 (Zachos, 2015). If this is the case, then the milennial brain has been affected by easy access to technology throughout its lifetime. As Zachos argues, texting and surfing the web use different parts of the brain than reading and speaking (2015). Some argue that because of constant access to information through technology, the human race is overall more intelligent. I think this can create a problematic conversation when humans are not processing the information they are recieving in educated and informed ways. For example, it is important for people who get information from the internet to digest not only the content, but the bias from the author, where the sources come from, etc. When we are given such easy access to these forms of information though, that is not always a process in which people are engaging as they read these materials. In this sense, then, I would argue that people are "dumbing down."
This graphic shows the differences between a Millenial Brain and a that of a Baby Boomer. Both have positive and negative habits that have been shaped by their environments. The article by Zachos conludes that not enough Neuroscience has been conducted to fully understand biological effects that technology has on brain development. Maybe the human brain will develop that technology in the future in order to help better undersand both components.
References:
Zachos, E. (2016, June 12). Technology is changing the Millennial brain. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.publicsource.org/technology-is-changing-the-millennial-brain/
@ Peterson, you have a brought a very important point, it is true that technology has been helping us all along, but this is also true that technology might affect our brains develop. As you said “However, the technology we have today has made it easier for the brain to not have those qualities. It's a very interesting dichotomy that comes into play when considering brain development. How far is too far in regards to technological advances?
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You have a valid point; however, it is still early to see the effect of technology on our brains. I remember in our times, we used to carry beans or abacus for math classes. Bot now students even do not carry calculators, used cell phones, tablets, computers or other forms of calculation. Things have changed a lot, and more changes are on the way. Technology will grow in a fast pace and there is nothing we can do to stop, however, what we can do is, starting teaching students about the basics of technology, the values that have brought us to this position. Doing this, we can assign an hour a week for the students to learn about the people and the ways that they have developed certain ways.