In today’s world, you’re lucky if you go somewhere and see people not holding their phones up to their faces. It is actually pretty funny to walk through a restaurant and see that most people, even couples on a “date”, are staring at their phones and essentially ignoring their company. This isn’t just our phones. These days coffee shops are filled with people who may have three or even four devices with them at any given time. They have their laptop, their cell phone, maybe a separate work cell phone and even their tablet/kindle. Although there are obvious interruptions that digital devices can have on our physical and social world. Like making room for them all to fit on a small Starbucks coffee table.
The point of this post is to discuss a more nuanced issue. One that has bigger implications than having to stare at the back of an iPhone: Are digital devices altering our brains?
Are Digital Devices Altering Our Brains
Screen Time and the Brain
There are so many benefits we gain from the technological leaps that have been made just in the last thirteen years when the first iPhone was unveiled. It may have all started with the first Personal Computer (PC) and how technology firms went from being oriented toward big government/big business strategies (think early days IBM/Unisys/Cray Computer) to consumer oriented strategies and consumer products. As these companies began to shift their approach to business (and many new companies and products started to enter the market), the real winners were us: the users. With the advent of the PC creating ferocious competition and innovation, new industries (ie. commercial software, video games, the internet, etc.) were popping up and new devices were being invented so as to capture our attention. PCs, smart phones, tablets and the internet combined put the world at our fingertips and all we had to do was plug in.
As the rapid introduction and adoption of digital devices changed just about everything we do in our lives, we’re only now starting to understand and investigate the impacts these new devices have on us. These innovations have increased our efficiency. Made the world a much smaller place, and kept us connected and informed in ways that were unimaginable even forty years ago. However, these advancements haven’t been all good. New research shows us that digital devices and the applications we use on them (particularly social media) are having adverse impacts on a variety of human behaviors and traits. Including our attention span, our working memory, and especially on the emotional and cognitive development of young people and children.
It is important to note, however, that it’s not all bad.
There is some good news about how digital devices can also alter our brains in positive ways. Let’s see if we can tackle some of the specifics surrounding how these digital devices are impacting the human brain.
Are Digital Devices Altering Our Brains?
One of the leading voices in neuroscience, Michael Merzenich, was quoted in 2005 saying the following about the internet amongst other things:
The Internet is just one of those things that contemporary humans can spend millions of “practice” events at, that the average human a thousand year ago had absolutely no exposure to. Our brains are massively remodeled by this exposure – but so, too, by reading, by television, by video games, by modern electronics, by contemporary music, by contemporary “tools,” etc.
Michael Merzenich (2005)
The answer may be so obvious that you don’t need to read this blog post to know that yes, digital devices are in fact altering our brains. I think the bigger question is: In what ways are these digital devices altering our brains? Honestly, I think the complete answer to this question would require a multi-volume book series. And many of the answers haven’t been discovered yet. I’m going to pick a few that stand out to me and hopefully offer some insight on how to combat the negative impacts and leverage the positive.
Brain Development
The above quote was pulled from The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D. in a section devoted to how media changes our brains. In this section, it references a study that was done with more than twenty-six hundred toddlers aged 1 – 3, showing that early exposure to television correlates with problems paying attention and controlling impulses later in childhood.[efn_note]The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge, M.D., ©2007 (Appendix 1; pg. 307)[/efn_note] Although this is a small sample size and there are confounding factors that need to be investigated here, it’s clear television (and likely other digital devices) has an impact on brain development. The reason why is still up for debate.
Reduced Attention Span
In 2015 a neurological study was conducted by Microsoft (yeah, the software company) to give insights to marketers about the human attention span and how that can impact marketing strategies. Although the study discusses how the brain changes (likely due to neuroplasticity) a key takeaway is that the average human attention span dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015. They note that a goldfish has a 9 second attention span. [efn_note]Microsoft Attention Spans, Spring 2015[/efn_note] They attribute this decline to the use of not only digital devices, but multiple digital device use at once. So our plastic brains are changing to stay alert to new stimulants. And reducing our general attention span on the things we’re trying to focus on.
Increased Levels of Depression In Young People
In The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving your Kids More Control Over Their Lives, authors William Stixrud, PhD and Ned Johnson cite a study that they conclude states “…heavy social media users-any one of whose hundreds or thousands of friends or followers can reflexively pass judgment-disproportionately suffer from anxiety, depression, and narcissism.” [efn_note] Larry Rosen, iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us (New Yrk: St. Martns Press, 2013)[/efn_note] They go on to further discuss the fact that social media users develop a dependency on staying up to date on their friends and followers and that studies show kids are sleeping next to their phones 84% of the time.[efn_note]The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving your Kids More Control Over Their Lives, William Stixrud, PhD and Ned Johnson © 2018 (pg. 204)[/efn_note]
The book discusses the various aspects of digital devices and digital media that are having a profound impact on middle aged children and their ability to feel control over their lives. Feeling less self-control leads to higher levels of stress and depression.
Improving Brain Function
Digital devices are not all bad. In The Self-Driven Child cited above, they also drew attention to recent studies that have shown that “gamers” who are extensively using their consoles actually develop four very useful characteristics: “urgent optimism, enhanced sociability, blissful productivity, and epic meaning”.[efn_note]The Self-Driven Child, Id. (pg. 198)[/efn_note] The book goes on to describe the fact that video games produce spikes in dopamine and can induce a state of “flow”. Flow is described as a being in “the zone”. More on flow in a different post, but if you know flow, you know there’s value here. There is evidence to suggest that video games can increase our attention to detail, our problem-solving skills, and generally make us better at taking initiative and being self-starters.
There’s another side to the value in digital devices and brain development (or regeneration).
A very common and popular idea with neuroplasticity is ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’. There is some science that suggests that the lack of learning and novelty can impact brain degeneration. A group of neuroscientists work together to offer adults “brain games” that help them stay sharp. Some of these games can reverse brain degeneration and have shown to even improve brain performance in individuals who are actually in decline! The company is BrainHQ, and they offer these games that can be played on a computer. One of the many ways digital devices can actually help us improve our brains.
So there you have it, a brief albeit multi-layered answer to the question of whether digital devices are altering our brains. Human interaction with digital devices is still a new concept. So the research and the discoveries are still in their infancy. However, after reading A LOT of books on neuropsychology and brain science, I can tell you that it’s clear the modern human is evolving and a large part of that is specifically attributable to digital devices and the media we consume on those devices. The more aware we are of how these digital devices can harm/help us, the better prepared we are to use them in healthy and productive ways!
I would love your feedback, so please always feel free to email me directly at nico@plastichuman.com or follow and message me on Instagram/Twitter.
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