Your Brain on Technology

People increasingly listen to songs on iPods, text or email, talk on their cell phones, and watch high-definition television — while they’re working out at the gym, standing in a grocery store line, and siting at stop lights. The smallest amount of downtime is filled with digital input. These micro-moments of down time have even caused the creation of video games that can be played in just a few minutes.

Some people check their iPhones or Blackberrys before they get out of bed in the morning and then check them as the last thing they do before going to sleep. If there’s a lot of downtime in the evening, filling it with Face Book, Twitter, YouTube and the like keeps heavy digital device users from becoming afraid or having to interact with other humans.

According to the New York Times, this technology craze is negatively affecting our brains. Scientists who have studied the effect of the overuse of technology on the brain say we’re forfeiting downtime that could allow us to better learn and remember information or come up with new ideas. As one researcher put it: “[D]owntime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them, and turn them into permanent long-term memories.” As another said: “People think they’re refreshing themselves [by constantly using technology], but they’re fatiguing themselves.” In short, the brain needs relaxing breaks where nothing, especially technological information, is forced inside it.

The horse may be too far out of the barn to do anything about this phenomenon. However, the results of it should be considered by individual employees and employers. Requiring your employees to take a 30 minute break completely free of technology would, in the long run, help productivity and save your employees’ brains from early senility or mere memory loss. Turn off your iPhones for an hour and at least think about it.