How Technology Affects Us As Children

Technology effects the brain in different ways than if you were to just read. Nicholas Carr uses an interesting metaphor to represent the ideas and differences between the two. 

Book reading is like scuba diving in which the diver is submerged in a quiet, visually restricted, slow-paced setting with few distractions and, as a result, is required to focus narrowly and think deeply on the limited information that is available to them. In contrast, using the Internet is like jet skiing, in which the jet skier is skimming along the surface of the water at high speed, exposed to a broad vista, surrounded by many distractions, and only able to focus fleetingly on any one thing.

Through using this idea researchists have found that a child that plays video games and any other media such as watching TV e.c.t., can increase reaction times and the capacity to identify details among clutter. This doesn't necessarily make children stupid, however just makes their process of thinking different from others. For example, using the internet to search in search engines is causing children to not remember things a such but more skilled at remembering where to find it instead. 

With the information that is now available to us 24 hours of the day it is becoming less important for children than to know where to look for something. Through this the information that you once needed to retain in our brains allows our brains to start and engage in more 'higher-order' processing such as contemplation, critical thinking, and problem solving. 

Pros and Cons of Technology

Pros

• You can save money with using the later technology. Larger companies use conference calls from different branches to host meetings. This reduces costs on traveling.
• Technology saves time, you can now email someone for a quick response. You can fax someone documents. 
• You can be more sociable, you can get to know what you're friends are doing all the time and can arrange a quick meet up. 
• Education, you can learn more about the world, it makes it easier to research or revise for exams. 
• We can all be globally connected to one another. 

Cons

• Distraction, you have access to games or social media which means you are constantly getting distracted by what is actually happening around you. 
• Companies use cookies to collect our data without us knowing. They find what we're interested in and try to advertise to us. They then can sell on our data to other companies leading into unwanted calls or junk emails. 
• The need to upgrade. When new technology comes out you want to get the latest technology. If you hold back on old technology you might not have access to certain updates. Games are constantly upgrading which means you have to buy the next game to get newer and cooler items. 
• We may start to depend on the technology. Not being able to get around anymore without a satnav. Or needing to know things straight away. Companies may depend on technology to do business and when failure happens they may not be able to do their job.