We all love modern technology, and how. But does technology love us?
Not necessarily. Read on!
Obesity is hitting our guts hard: Universal presence of smartphones, tabs, gaming consoles etc. are helping us staying attuned to sedentary way of life. Not surprisingly, we’re piling on the pounds at an alarming rate. A resent research unmasked that every ten percent rise in tech investments by a country corresponds to a one percent rise in obesity rates.
The www is slashing our attention duration: This is not so surprising. What is, though, that a research has proven that the average attention span has come down from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, which happens to be the less than the average attention span of a goldfish.
The rise of the ‘on-demand’ culture is poisoning our patience levels: Instant gratification is what we are progressively seeking in all spheres of life. The popularity of YouTube and online streaming videos is merely one example. A study has revealed that the average video streamer would wait only for two seconds before abandoning the video if it doesn’t stream fully in that short a duration. Such behavior is sweeping into other aspects of our lives as well.
GPS is navigating our minds to memory loss: Yes, as many as three different studies have indicated that over-reliance on GPS to locate the route could actually lead to eventual memory loss as we grow older. How? Because the part of our brain controlling memory is linked with spatial navigation. The more this part of the brain is used the stronger it gets. GPS-reliance turns this part of our brain into a couch potato, so to speak. As if this isn’t enough, another study says that over-reliance on GPS over a long duration could lead to mental derangement!
Tech abundance is making us less creative: Yes! It’s true. Contrary to what you may believe, a research has shown that our minds tend to function more creatively when there is a paucity of information. This is so as we have to strive harder to come up with that ‘solution’ than with the ready availability of pools of information which tech offers us.
Texting is injurious to our ability to communicate: New research has shown that over-texting habits instead of the verbal communication in day-to-day lives is draining our capability to access emotional hints in other people. Most of us today have welcomed the mobile age when we were already adults with our social skills reasonably well-formed. But what about children? They would find their social capacity for a real face-to-face communication severely affected in this texting-prone era.
Google is making our minds information-unfriendly: What’s the point of remembering anything when all you need to do is to drag up that piece of information with a few simple clicks of your mouse on Google? Yes, research shows that this ‘Google effect’ is actually impairing our ability to retain information.