Cannot do without your mobile phone, laptop or tablet? Feel weird and uneasy when not close to any of these devices? Probably you have not noticed. You cannot recall words quickly; you forget routine matters; you get distracted easily; and your attention span is getting shorter. Well, you may be a victim of digital dementia.
Technology may have made our life easy and some of us wonderful multitaskers, but it could be exacting its pound of flesh too. Here’s the truth many of us would be unaware of.
Smart technology is making us dumber. We are aging faster than the earlier generations. We have outsourced some of the brain’s basic functions so much that it is losing its capacity to be normal and efficient. It’s shrinking the learning abilities of the young besides turning them into socially awkward individuals. While there are several gains from technology, they are overwhelmed by the negatives.
Phone numbers are not easy to remember. But it is not unusual for the older generation, roughly in the age-group 65-80, to have a lot of them in their heads. Recalling the numbers is no big deal for them. Not so for the younger lot though. How desperate do we get when the numbers get deleted on our devices? However, it’s not only about numbers but about all kinds of professional and personal information we assign to the phone’s memory.
We have outsourced a part of the function of memory to our smart phones. Instead of remembering actual information, we remember the folders or other spaces within our devices where they could be found. If they get corrupted there’s a whole lot of trouble. It’s one instance of how parts of our mental faculties are getting less alert and active, if not redundant.
We have become overdependent on technology for activities that our brains could handle earlier. This includes creative thinking and analytical skills besides memory. And that is where the discussion on the psychological disorder digital dementia kicks in. Dementia refers to a host of symptoms including memory loss, weak learning ability, trouble with recalling words, difficulty in problem-solving, loss of social skills and disorientation among others. These are conditions generally associated with the elderly. The new generation hooked to smart screens is developing these much earlier. Besides these personality disorders such as anxiety, depression and paranoia are setting in early.
Digital dementia was coined by German neuroscientist Dr. Manfred Spitzer in 2012 to highlight the cognitive decline among the young similar to persons of much older age due to overuse of digital technology. Several later studies have confirmed the negative impact of smartscreen addiction on the normal functioning of the human brain, particularly in the teenage population.
Should we be worried? Yes, though the phenomenon is yet to be categorised as some kind of mental disorder. The symptoms are disturbingly close to dementia. The solution, according to experts, is to reduce screen time, including television, to the bare minimum. Use the brain in creative and learning activities, and get in touch with the real social world more. If you are a parent, desist from providing kids with mobile phones to stop them from bothering you. It can grow into an addiction pretty soon in life.
(By arrangement with Perspective Bytes)
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