the internet

just imagine what life would be without

the internet some of us actually

remember the time before everything was

connected but the thought of living

without smartphones maps where search

engines ran at our fingertips now seems

completely alien to us but how is our

increasing reliance on the online world

affecting us our relationships sources

of information in the way we interact

with each other is rapidly changing and

there are even noticeable effects

occurring within our brains with more

and more devices relying on the internet

it's no surprise that worldwide access

is continually increasing in 2016 an

estimated 3.5 billion people across the

world access online services the top

three countries were China with 721

million users followed by India and then

the US with 290 million users by far the

most common language used online is

English followed by Chinese and Spanish

the reliance on using the Internet is

clearly changing across generations

mainly depending 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 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 as well communication through

these platforms is far more common which

means phone calls and text messages are

dropping in popularity and the use of

online shopping and services has caused

a sharp decline in the uses of

traditional high street stores 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 is all this

affecting our brains with such a wealth

of information at our fingertips the

prevalence of the Internet is changing

away our

work millenials for example 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 its

stored within your long-term memory

constant new information however

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 while

previous generations would have

memorized directions on a map for

example now there's a reliance on being

able to access this GPS app on your

fault we're also becoming more addicted

to our smartphones constant glances to

check for messages where updates means

that we're becoming more and more used

to developing a habit of being

distracted 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

washing machines for example means that

people spend far less time on 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

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 to

keep track of how much time you're

spending online and you know unplug every

once in a while.