article on technology and its effect on our health
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Technology has crept into every corner of our lives, from obsessive texting to checking emails more often than a stockbroker eyeballs the Dow.
Sure, you’re on top of Kim Kardashian’s latest crisis, but smart phones, tablet computers and gadgets “have an impact on [your body], even if you’re dealing with irrelevant information,” says Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology, physiology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.
Most of us absorb three times more information every day compared with 50 years ago, according to University of California researchers. We spend 12 hours in front of TV and computers – and that’s just at home.
So is all this techno-toiling bad for us? That depends on the devices you use and how often, medical experts say.
Read about teen drivers and texting.
No one expects you to put down your smart phone and live like our ancestors did. Researchers are conflicted so far, though, about whether the effects of media are good or bad for our brains. They do agree that it’s changing how we think.
Which in itself isn’t alarming: “Throughout our lifespans, our brains always change,” Gazzaley says.
Lifescript called, texted and emailed experts nationwide to learn about the effects of media on our health. Read on to learn how it might be changing you.
Effects of Technology on Health #1: Failing Memory
You drive while talking on the cell phone, text while listening in on a conference call, surf your iPad while watching TV. Multitasking is the new normal, and though it feels like we’re more efficient, studies show it has the opposite effect.
“Your performance level drops if you stop one activity to pick up another,” says Gazzaley, who conducts ongoing studies on the effects of media on our brains.
Multitasking participants had more difficulty filtering out irrelevant information than those focusing on one task at a time. Multitaskers also took longer to switch tasks, juggle problems and wasted time searching for new information when information they had was better and more reliable.
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