It is not unusual, these days, for children to spend five hours a day looking at computer screens or mobile phones. That’s five hours a day that they’re not exploring their neighborhoods, feeling the wind in their hair, or giving someone a hug. Yet it seems we are sleepwalking into this new cyberculture without even questioning its impact on our brains.
The human brain is exquisitely talented at adapting to its environment. Its plasticity has allowed humans to occupy more ecological niches than any other species on the planet. But this adaptability also means that as our environments change in unprecedented ways, so, too, do our brains.
In our eagerness to embrace technology, we have created environments that are almost certainly impacting our brains, and, more pressingly, the brains of a younger generation that has never known anything else.
The human brain is exquisitely talented at adapting to its environment. Its plasticity has allowed humans to occupy more ecological niches than any other species on the planet. But this adaptability also means that as our environments change in unprecedented ways, so, too, do our brains.
In our eagerness to embrace technology, we have created environments that are almost certainly impacting our brains, and, more pressingly, the brains of a younger generation that has never known anything else.