Estate Planning

The Dangers of Distraction

By Hull and Hull LLP

One of the most remarkable, relevant and topical areas of scientific enquiry has to do with the "plasticity" of the brain and the stunning potential of the brain to "rewire" itself to adapt to injury and stimuli.  In his recent bestseller "The Brain that Changes Itself", U of T professor Norman Doige explores this phenomenon.

But just as the brain has the ability to change for the better, there is growing evidence to suggest that overexposure to the Internet risks turning us into "scattered and superficial thinkers."

In a recent article published in the Telegraph on-line entitled "How the Internet is Making us Stupid" (or see the Wall Street Journal's title for the same piece: "Does the Internet Make you Dumber?"), Nicholas Carr notes the extent to which surfing the net makes us shallow thinkers. Text studded with links, busy multimedia presentations, emails, and yes, even blogs (gasp!) all are less "embedded" in our subconscious then more traditional means of receiving information such as books and radio.  If "multitasking" was the buzzword of the nineties, the corollary is that the advent of technological advances to assist us has, some argue, made us less productive.

Carr summarizes the scientific findings: "When we're constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be when looking at the screens of our computers and mobile phones, our brains can't forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give distinctiveness and depth to our thinking."

Personally, I find none of this surprising.  Similar observations no doubt accompanied the introduction of the television into western culture.  The difference with the Internet is the all-pervasive extent to which it tempts us in place of the most basic activities of reading and writing which, historically, have given us the greatest opportunity for subconscious reflection. All things in moderation perhaps?

David Morgan Smith - Click here for more information on David Smith.

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on November 09, 2010 (boomark / email).