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Title:

How Technology Is Altering Our Brain

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Christie Nicholson, Scientific American
Description:
This year Twitter was accused of making us immoral because it’s too fast for emotions to register. Seems overly dramatic, but scientists confirm technology changes our adult neural circuitry at an unprecedented rate. We ought to understand the “generation brain gap” and the physiological, social and economic impact of high-tech.
Questions
Answered:
  1. What is neuroplasticity? (The ability for a brain to rewire itself.)
  2. How does our brain change? Are the changes permanent?
  3. How different are the brains of the next generation? Specifically?
  4. Can an adult brain really be affected by social media, PDAs, mobile GPS? Is it bad? Good?
  5. How will technological innovations in the coming five years will impact our brains and our culture? And what should we do about it, if anything?
  6. How can I relate to how teenagers and children think, having grown up their entire lives with technology?
  7. How can I regain focus, when I have so much competing for my attention online and wirelessly?
  8. How addicted are we to the refresh button?
  9. How does a teenagers brain react to video games, Google, text messaging?
  10. How can we survive digital burnout?
Level:
Beginner
Category:
Branding / Marketing / Publicity, Career / Work Concerns, Digital Divide, Self-Help / Self-Improvement, Social Issues
Type:
Panel
Event:
Interactive 2010
Dave Gray
on 17/8/09
This looks like a great mind-altering panel. I want to see it.
DAvid Ressel
on 18/8/09
Will be there. This is right up my (silicon) alley. looks great.
Jane Nicholson
on 21/8/09
Oh Lord, the world is moving too fast. How can we keep up unless we go to SXSW and hear this panel???
Linda Campbell
on 24/8/09
Wonderful idea! I often wonder about how university professors and undergraduate students could collaborate to bridge this "technology gap"...
Rick Scavetta
on 24/8/09
Timely and necessary!
Sarah Campbell
on 25/8/09
this is fascinating - there should be more panels like this at SXSW!
Thomas Hayden
on 25/8/09
I'm just a little concerned about which side of the neuroplasticity divide I'm on; definitely want to hear the latest on how to bridge back across...
Ronan Nagle
on 26/8/09
When will technology's exponential growth take us over? Is each generation more equipped to handle the necessary changes in human interaction? What is lost? Exciting! Good luck.
Coco Ballantyne
on 27/8/09
Digital technology has taken off so fast that we have little time to consider its biological, social, and cultural implications. Somebody needs to be searching for answers - this panel is right on target.
Julia Boughner
on 28/8/09
I am more addicted to the refresh button than I would like to admit. Good luck with this!
Penny Hansen
on 29/8/09
The way my university students behave in class and the way they prefer to study have changed noticeably in the past 5 years. In class, if they're not interacting actively with me or each other, they're on their laptops or texting - listening, yes, but doing other things at the same time. They want web-based interactive material to learn from, rather than textbooks. I take this as evidence that their use of technology has altered their brains, and I want to understand it so I can be more effective in helping them learn.
andrew chorny
on 29/8/09
Terrific, brain science! What could this mean in the mental health sector? I read recently that kindergarten students are showing signs of MDD, and the debate swells should such young persons be profiled for mental health illnesses? As well, whether solutions to such problems should be in the hands of private marketeers such as Jansen, or Pfizer? Could be an interesting opportunity to discuss such ethical and moral questions.
Francis Belloni
on 31/8/09
Millennial students claim to be able to multi-task, but cognitive studies say that multi-taksers are really poorly able to focus. What are the long-term implications of this?
Steve Caputo
on 2/9/09
Looking forward to some answers!
courtney reimer
on 2/9/09
Yes! As a "Twitterati," this seems like something I should know more about.
Jane Mingay
on 3/9/09
It's time we explored these questions. Refreshing!
henri achterkamp
on 3/9/09
Yes, these questions should be worked out in good answers.
I'm realley addicted to Twitter and the refresh-button to see if there are new tweets.
Erika Hayden
on 3/9/09
You've got to be curious about the answers to these questions!
Tanya Samman
on 3/9/09
Information overload? Can our brains handle it? Should they have to? Deep things to contemplate with this topic...
John Craig
on 3/9/09
I need to hear this... sounds mind-bending!
Melissa Thomas
on 3/9/09
I'd go see this.
Andrea Hartline
on 4/9/09
I feel like I am never seperated from technology anymore. This topic is very timley and I think anyone attending the conference would identify with many of the questions. Please make this a panel discussion.
Michael Shafran
on 4/9/09
Hi Christie. Lots of great questions to think about here. I think any insights into how to cope in the new social media dynamic and relate to a new generation that has grown up with it will be well-received by your audience. It's the more interesting of your two proposed projects, probably because there are more practical implications, rather than theoretical.
Le'Anne Frieday
on 6/9/09
Fascinating! We offer educational sessions in Ottawa for relatively young students during National Science and Technology Week every fall. In recent years we've received comments from teachers that presentations need to be substansially shorter (really, really short!) if we want to hold the childrens' attention. How short do we need to go to capture them?
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