Unique Minds: How new tech is changing the way that we think
New technologies emerge every day and change our lives. Companies compete to get the newest, coolest devices out the fastest. All these new toys are changing the way that we think as individuals and as a society, and we are adjusting to these changes to reap the benefits.
Whether or not these changes are good has been debated at length by writers, such as Pamela Lund and Nicholas Carr, scientests and even the general public have opinions on these changes. I believe that the changes that are happening to our brains are more than just good, they are progressing us as a society.
Our ability to concentrate on one thing at a time is going down. On the flip side, we are better than ever at multitasking. We have trouble socializing with strangers in the real world, but are socially networked with everyone we have ever met.
In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr laments how the creation of new tech is changing the world. I believe that this change is progress. True, our obsession with getting the newest gadget, and moving to the best area, has contributed to our environmental troubles.
But there is a lag in progress whenever something big changes our society.
Our new connectedness is allowing us to share more than ever. We are able to get info to each other without the government or news stations helping us. We know the truth about violence in India, and the educational system in Europe.
I know that if I lived in India I would be at a higher risk of violence, rape, murder, and oppression. And if I lived in Europe, I wouldn’t be struggling to afford my higher education. All we need is some random person somewhere to post some information online and that info could easily go viral.
Advantages and disadvantages to technology can be seen all around us. Children who spend their time playing a lot of video games have higher reflexes. But these same children have lost their ability to connect to nature, and tend to have problems with obesity.
People have become accustomed to instant information. They are happy to know a little bit of everything, but not a lot about one thing. Where is the middle ground?
What are the solutions to these disadvantages?
My generation has seen the highest jump in technology. We operate with it like it is a part of our being.
But we are becoming adults and seeing the consequences to constant tech.
The newest generation are being raised by the first wave of parents who had their own videogames, TV’s, and computers while growing up. These same parents, who were plopped down in front of the TV as children, are consistently finding ways to give their children the best of both worlds.
My nephew is five years old. He watches TV, he craves to learn to read new books, he dances to music, he builds with Legos, and he plays outside. He has moderation in his childhood.
We are learning in response to technology that technology is good when used in moderation.
Technology will help us make the world a better place. Sure, it will change the way that we act, but this is natural.
Society changed with the discovery of fire. With the ability to tell time, to travel around the world on boats, with planes, trains, and cars. Oil has changed our world. The advent of cities, of the minting of money, the ability to write, and the invention of the telephone have all changed the world and society and we always made it work. The same thing will happen with this ‘Connected Age’ and our changed minds.
Change is natural, and we always adapt.
Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.