Our Brains Vs The Internet

Can you even imagine what life would be without the internet?

I am sure I cannot!!

I am sure some of you can actually remember the time before everything was connected, however, the thought of living without smartphones with search engines that ran at our fingertips now seems completely alien to us. The question remains, how is our increasing reliance on the online world affecting our relationships, affecting how we interact with each other and are there any noticeable effects on our brains?

The reliance on using the Internet is clearly changing across generations which mainly depends on those who had to adapt to the new technology or those who grew up with that being readily accessible. Generation X Internet users who were born between the mid 1960s and early 1980s logged an average of a hundred and ten minutes of mobile internet usage each day while Millennials who were born from the early 80s and onward and grew up with the internet locked in the average of a hundred and eighty five minutes per day. Social media and messaging apps have become crucial to how we live our lives and communicate with more than a billion people regularly using apps like

whatsapp and even more using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Now with increasing use of Internet services, it seems only natural that our behavior is changing. For example, communication through these platforms is far more common which means phone calls and text messages are dropping in popularity. Additionally, the use of online shopping and services has caused a sharp decline in the uses of traditional high street stores. Even our towns and cities are starting to look very different to a few decades ago and this can all be attributed to what's now available online.

So how does all of this affect our brains?

Firstly, with such a wealth of information at our fingertips the prevalence of the Internet is changing our millennials for example they have been found to be far more forgetful than previous generations. This is thought to be a direct result of the constant distractions that connectivity brings. The basic principle behind memory is that the more a piece of information is repeated and thought about in your short-term memory the stronger it is stored within your long-term memory. With having such easy access to new information, it prevents this process from taking place as effectively and far less is permanently stored. Further to this the knowledge that information is readily available online means that you're less likely to form a memory of it. For example, while previous generations would have memorized directions on a map, now there's a reliance on being able to access the GPS app on your phones. Additionally, we're also becoming more addicted to our smartphones with the constant glances to check for messages which means that we're becoming more and more used to developing a habit of being distracted.

Secondly, our brains are less used to transitioning into deeper modes of

thinking which makes it more difficult to do this when we need to. Some research has also shown that the constant flow of information has meant that we are losing cognitive control. This means 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. We are increasingly more 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 can be used somewhere else. For example, washing machines means that people spend far less time on cleaning clothes so these extra hours each day can be taken up by work or other activities. Similarly, the ability to communicate and find information much faster on the internet means that we have extra mental capacity for other processes.

I still recommend reducing our screen time which can help to keep our brains more active and malleable. It's a good idea to be aware of how much time you're spending on “distractions'' each day and keep track of it. So just unplug every once in a while to limit the negative impacts so you can still benefit from the positive effects.