How The Internet is CHANGING Your Brain

Imagine what life would be like without it.

Some of us actually use the internet.

Remember before everything existed?

thoughts that connect but live

How to read a map without a smartphone

The engine was clearly at our fingertips.

completely alien to us, but what about ours?

Increased reliance on the online world

The source of our relationships affects us.

information in the way we interact

changes rapidly,

even having a noticeable effect.

occurs more in our brains.

An increasing number of Internet-dependent devices

No wonder it's accessible from all over the world.

Steadily increasing in 2016

estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide

World Access Online Service Tops

3 countries were China with 721

After 1 million users, India, and

The US dominates with 290 million users.

the most used language on the internet

English is followed by Chinese and Spanish.

Dependence on Internet Use

changed significantly over generations.

largely dependent on those who had to

adapt to new technology

gladly grew up on it.

accessible

Generation X netizens

Born in the mid to early 1960s

In the 1980s, an average of 100 logs were recorded.

10 minutes of mobile internet use

Every day while millennials are born

Growing since the early '80s

locked to the internet on average

185 minutes each

Tags include social media and messaging apps.

How we live matters.

Communicate with over 1 billion people.

People who regularly use apps such as

WhatsApp, and even platforms

like Facebook and Twitter.

now and

Increased use of Internet services

Our actions seem obvious.

Change and communication

These platforms are much more common.

I mean phone calls and text messages.

decline in popularity and use of

Online shopping and services cause

a sharp decline in the use of

Traditional shopping streets in our city

Cities are starting to look a lot better.

unlike decades ago.

Everything can be attributed to what is now

available online

affects our brains with such richness

Information at our fingertips

The spread of the Internet is changing.

leave us

For example, millennials

much more forgetful than

Previous generations thought so.

a direct result of a constant

Distraction brought about by connectivity

The basic principle of memory is

more information

repeated and reflected in you.

short term memory

the stronger

stored in long-term memory

but always new information.

prevent this process from happening.

effectively and much less

Permanently saved next to this

Know that information is readily available.

Being available online means you have less

perhaps forming a memory of it in the meantime.

Previous generations would have had

saved the route on the map of

For example, there is now trust in existence.

to access this GPS app.

We are becoming more and more dependent on guilt.

always looking at our smartphones.

Look for a message that means update.

what we are accustomed to

get into the habit of

diverted

Our brains are less used to transitioning into deeper modes of

thinking, which makes it more difficult.

to do this when we need to do some research.

has also shown that the constant flow of

information has meant that we are losing

cognitive control This means that not only is

our ability to control our minds

reducing, but also our ability to decide.

What we're thinking about the more you

Rely on your phone and an app to provide

information to you, the less you are able

to determine what's important to focus on.

On the other hand, we are increasingly concerned.

with information that's new as opposed

to what's actually important, so what can

be done, although technology is clearly

affecting the way our brains work, it's

not necessarily a bad thing.

Throughout history, inventions have

always enabled us to focus less on one

thing, so our time could be used somewhere.

else

Washing machines, for example, mean that

People spend far less time cleaning.

clothes, so these extra hours each day

are taken up by work or other activities.

similarly, so the ability to communicate

and find information much faster on the

The internet means that we have extra mental

capacity for other processes still

Reducing our screen time can help to

keep our brains more active and

malleable, and it's a good idea to be

aware of how much time you're spending

on distractions each day, so my advice is to

Keep track of how much time you're

spending a lie, and, you know, unplug every

once in a while.

you