I finished reading iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind by Gary Small, MD and Gigi Vorgan. Overall the book was very disappointing. The audience turned out to be technology challenged Baby Boomers and seniors, or “Digital Immigrants” as they are called when referring to generational tech status. Digital Immigrants are opposed to “Digital Natives” Gen Xers and Millennials who were born into what is generally considered the Digital Age. If you are 43 or under, you are considered a Digital Native.
What I had expected to be a book about how technology is changing our brains and possibly affecting evolutionary patterns, turned out to be a book explaining the world of Digital Natives to Digital Immigrants and reassuring them that they aren’t too old to learn technology and can even catch up to the Natives if they want to.
In spite of all that, there is some value in the book. Like I learned that the adult brain accounts for 20% of our daily energy expenditure. So, for instance, if you have a 2000 calorie a day diet, 400 calories get used up by your brain alone. Maybe those weight loss books that suggest we can think our way thin are actually on to something.
I also learned that face-to-face interactions use more areas of the brain than do computer interactions whether that is gaming, chatting, or doing a little online shopping. This is not a problem if you balance your virtual life with your real life. But studies have found that people, especially children, who spend hours online everyday experience atrophy of the neural pathways used for in-person people skills.
Gaming especially stunts frontal lobe development and there is concern that the brains of teenagers who spend hours a day gaming may never catch up to a normal brain. Studies also show that over-exposure to digital technology can make men more likely to exhibit autistic behavior. Sorry guys, this is currently only male brains. Female brains apparently have a slightly different structure that keeps us from having the same issue.
And if you thought using a television as a babysitter was bad, using a computer is even worse. It is recommended that children two and under not be exposed to computers or television. Even those “educational” videos and computer games are bad for them. Some studies have found that too early exposure could delay brain development including language acquisition.
That’s pretty much it for the interesting bits. About the last third of the book is about explaining technology. The authors go over what a blog is, what chat/IM is, email, the dangers of the virtual world like phishing and viruses. There is even a whole page on how to look up health information online.
Perhaps this book might be useful for someone who is not comfortable or familiar with computers and technology. But for this Gen X Digital Native it was pretty much a worthless book. Though it was easy reading on the bus because I didn’t have to really pay attention to it to follow along.
Sounds like my experience with that Stroke of Insight book — sounded good, but was kind of a dud.
Interesting about the brain development, though. I often think about that and “kids today”.
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I’m fascinated by the idea that overexposure to digital technology effects men differently than women – why would that be? What’s structurally different? (I don’t mean to bully you to give me all the details, I’m just really curious so will probably go look this up). Too bad the book didn’t do much else but the facts were interesting!
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Too bad the book was a disappointment. Interesting, though, about the problems too much computer use can cause. I wouldn’t have thought that computers can be as bad as television for children — good to know.
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I’m amazed that 20% of our daily energy expenditure can be from thinking! That is the kind of exercise I like!
Now I’m worried about my brain atrophying from too much time on the computer….
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Thinking about the brain-calorie thing: imagine what harm we’re doing to our brains by not eating. Crash diets and skipping meals presumably has a negative impact on brain function. Eat more, think more, I say!
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I read all of that out to my son, who is sitting here, playing World of Warcraft (is there an ironic emoticon??). He assured me he had enough interaction with other boys at school during the day to keep his pathways open. When I read the bit about brain development, he sort of snorted. Actually, I think I may have blunted my people skills with virtual interaction – the problem is I like it so much! But I shall certainly keep motivated to watch out for his gaming in the holidays. I don’t suppose there’s an alternative book that talks about gaming as a training ground for air traffic controllers, etc? Oh and I can vouch for the calorie usage – nothing makes me hungrier than a stretch of wrestling with a theoretical problem! 🙂
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I don’t think I would enjoy the book, but enjoyed reading the interesting tidbits you mentioned. I surfed over from Sassy Monkey and am enjoying your blog 😉
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It’s interesting the debate our society has over television and computers and digital ‘things’ vs not using them. Now of course cell phones are supposed to increase the risk of tumours in teenagers…it’s not that I disbelief these ‘facts’ that keep coming out, it’s that we haven’t had the digital toys around long enough to know how they affect us. We’ve had tv for almost 80 years now – though really, the last 60 is when it was in people’s homes, and prevalent in society. Has it made us better? worse? How has it changed us as a society? Do I, who had three years in my childhood without television at all, think or use my brain differently than others who did have tv constantly? How do we quantify this? I’m not sure there are easy answers to this. Certainly I believe in playing and imagination – time away from the tv and the computer and x-box, are good for the brain to develop in different ways, apart from how it is growing with the digital use. I don’t think of tv/x-box/games as bad; I think they promote a different part of the brain (neuron paths) that perhaps we don’t know as a society how to utilize yet. If it affects our interactions with others – well, they used to say that about reading books too much, too!!! lol I certainly got that in my childhood, that I had to get out and play more, stop reading so much…..so I think this book is an extension of society’s view that anything that takes away from socializing is a bad thing in the long run. which I disagree with, by the way! thanks for discussing this book, Stefanie, it did get me thinking about our younger children and how we still make sure they spend some time on the computer and plenty of time away from it- to balance, so they do go do other things. They could always read more, though, in my view!!
oh, I am born in 1963 so I’m in the digital immigrant part. Of course. anyone know how to explain how an MP3 player works? lol
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Daphne, yeah, this one seemed like a good idea at the time. You know when you are and adult when you start saying things like “the kids today…” 😉
Verbivore, that is an interesting bit, isn’t it? Unfortunately the author did not elaborate, but I am curious too what the structural differences are.
Dorothy, computers can be as bad as TV. But the weird thing is, that while there was a whole section on how addictive computers are, not a word was said about how addictive TV is.
jenclair, I was surprised at the 20% too. Exercising your brain is beneficial for mind and body, who knew? I wouldn’t worry about brain atrophy though, I think all your creative projects more than counterbalance your computer time!
maggie, yes, you are right, we don’t think about what effect diets have on the brain. I think “eat more, think more” is a great slogan!
Litlove, lol! I can perfectly picture you and your son and hear his snort 🙂 I suspect your people skills are just fine. And come to think of it, after I have done several hours of school work I do feel rather hungry.
Donna, hello, welcome, and thanks! I think the book is meant for a very specific audience which is too bad because it could have been pretty good.
Susan, you make a very good point. I do think there is at least some truth to the problems too much technology causes the brain. They can do studies with MRIs now and can see what the brain is doing. To the author’s credit he never said reading was bad and that people shouldn’t spend time alone. One of the things that technology does to the brain is encourage multitasking abilities and this puts big demands on the brain. But, digital natives are better at multitasking than immigrants are because they have developed the neural pathways to do it. That said, there does come a point even for natives when overload is reached. I think as with everything in life, technology use is a matter of finding balance.
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Well, thanks for summing up the good bits, so I don’t have to read this one. Too bad it’s written for the 43+ crowd. Most of us don’t have two-year-old children, so we’re not the ones who need to be reading about how damaging TV and computers can be for them. I do have a friend who has always limited her children’s TV and computer time, and when her daughter was in second grade, the teacher told her it was very obvious that her child was not one who sat in front of a screen most of the day. I always wanted to talk to that teacher to ask her what she meant by that.
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