How technology destroing our brains
Monday, February 17, 2025
Hannah Karpel on BBC is writing:
Claire Benton, vice-president of the British Academy of Audiology, suggests that by blocking everyday sounds such as cars beeping, there is a possibility the brain can “forget” to filter out the noise.
and
Those more complex, high-level listening skills in your brain only really finish developing towards your late teens. So, if you have only been wearing noise-cancelling headphones and been in this false world for your late teens then you are slightly delaying your ability to process speech and noise.
Whereas in Fortune Chloe Berger had written:
AI might already be warping our brains, leaving our judgment and critical thinking ‘atrophied and unprepared,’ warns new study.
These are examples of the negative effects of using new technologies. Of course, we need more scientific research, but already these preliminary studies suggest that there is reason to believe that we should pay more attention to how we use technology.
I was reminded of the scientific research on how smartphone map use impairs spatial memory.
We love technology. It’s obvious. But it doesn’t love the way we function and often has the effect of impairing our functioning. Awareness of the dangers is the first step to not being defeated the inventions we create ourselves.