Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime 222
siliconbits writes with an excerpt from NY Times: "Technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas."
I take several short naps a day (Score:5, Interesting)
Going for a run or a ride... (Score:5, Interesting)
I really value my exercise time for this 'down time.' I can't stand running with headphones because I can't get lost in the moment. Going out for a nice long run (or a walk) on Sunday morning when you have a problem to mull over is just about the greatest way to find some insight and a new angle on it. I've composed term papers and had some wonderful insights into my life and relationships while on runs.
As I get older, I also find that I need to turn off more and more distractions if I really want to get anything serious done. I close the web browser, turn off the IM and silence the phone (I'd turn it off, but it takes so freaking long to reboot, it's obnoxious). I remember a time in my youth that I'd have 12 things going on at once, watching TV, playing video games and maybe even music running somewhere. I think I was being productive, but looking back, I question that. Perhaps my abilities to 'multi-task' have diminished as I've aged, but I think that I've just become more adept at recognizing shoddy work. What about you all? Have you fond that as you get older, you need more quite time to think than you did when you were younger? Do little distractions like email and IMs really cut into your productivity?
I can daydream listening to mp3s (Score:1, Interesting)
I don't know about watching visuals, but I can get into a similar meditative state to jogging when I listen to music. Good for problem solving.
You can also do this kind of thing while driving. So much so that you can often forget the details of how you got somewhere.
I suspect, for me, any tech that demands focused consciousness may be a downside, but many forms of tech can let you get your daydreaming walk in the forest time.
More than that (Score:5, Interesting)
I read the article on the New York Times yesterday, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately in general, and I've come across some pretty interesting stuff. For instance, its pretty obvious that computers give off a lot of blue light. Apparently someone decided that blue LEDs meant high tech and so devices get fitted with them all over the place. Blue light in particular is linked to suppression of melatonin(source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11487664 [nih.gov]). Particularly low levels of melatonin have been observed in patients with various degrees of ASD, including slashdot's favourite asperger's (source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17505466 [nih.gov]).
So, my contention is that the "rise in autism" that seems to be so prevalent these days is probably a result of children basically being deprived of proper darkness, being surrounded by light from computers, tv, video games, etc. I've started taking melatonin supplements as since I got back into IT work about two years ago and spending much more time on computers, I've been sleeping a lot less and feeling generally less sociable. My memory has gotten shot, etc. Could just be that I'm getting older, but I'm only 26... I'm not that old. When I get a break away from computers, take some time out to sleep, and get outside in the woods then I can generally shake the effects off in a day or so, but when I was a kid the world wasn't nearly as surrounded by computer technology in all its myriad of forms as it is today, where kids are basically handed a DS right out of the womb. I didn't see a gameboy until I was about 7 or 8, and it had a monochrome screen with no backlight.
And no, I don't mean a break from work. I mean a break from computers. It's not just being at work -- when I'm at work, its light outside anyway. I mean no laptop, no fancy phone, no nothing. Go away for a few days and leave that stuff behind, because if I'm just at home on the weekend and spend a lot of time plugged up, then I don't feel any better for not having been at work.
The way kids are today, with all their gadgets and gizmos can't possibly be any better for their brains than it is for their bodies, not playing outside nearly as much as they used to.
Stories like this match up pretty well with my own anecdotal evidence, not that it means much, but when I find NIH studies that seem to point to much more extreme versions of what I've seen, even in myself. Like I said, the effects on an adult are likely to be temporary, but our brains had time to mature before being mushed up.
Um no... not really.... (Score:4, Interesting)
It is not like before "digital devices" people would sit around doing nothing for "downtime".. Before pocket toys that look for our attention people had a list of tasks they had to do. Instead of wasting time sitting there playing plants-vs-zombies they read a book or talked.
My downtime is usually under a car or elbow deep in a motorcycle doing high level brain activity compared to what any digital device causes.
This is all bull-cockey. If anything the digital devices are making people stupid because they dont have to actually work for or retain any knowlege.. they certianly are not causing us to lose downtime, as humans by nature dont do brain downtime. Hell when we sleep we dont even have brain downtime.
Re:Going for a run or a ride... (Score:3, Interesting)
I sit out on my balcony a couple of nights a week with a fine single malt and a fine cigar and just watch the world go past. When I was telling one of my friends he was amazed that I could sit for so long without doing anything. I can't understand how he's so constantly doing things.
Re:Going for a run or a ride... (Score:1, Interesting)
"I think I was being productive, but looking back, I question that."
man, you are absolutely right -- whether you like or abhor pbs, they did a documentary [pbs.org] about how connected kids are. They had college kids from MIT & Stanford take basic memory tests while "multitasking" then while not "multitasking". Before the memory tests, the kids just *knew* how awesomely smart they were and as such they *knew* that their memory functioned the same know matter distractions were present. After the test they were given their scores and guess what? They had shitty scores while multitasking. It was great seeing the look on their faces when presented with the shitty scores. Turns out, one has a false sense of being in control when juggling so many tasks, which leads to a false sense of productivity. Also, I agree with you that exercising is far better when done outdoors & without tunes, etc.
"Perhaps my abilities to 'multi-task' have diminished as I've aged, but I think that I've just become more adept at recognizing shoddy work."
recently I saw a documentary (don't have time to look it up now) -- the middle aged brain is plastic, it doesn't fade/diminish in terms of performance, due in large part to our ability to use experience to weed out the bullshit in front of us & focus on what's truly important (ahhh, I'm busted: as I typed those words I just realized that I'M ON /. , so at the age of 41, I must get back to what's truly important :-)
Re:Source code (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Going for a run or a ride... (Score:4, Interesting)
When I was telling one of my friends he was amazed that I could sit for so long without doing anything. I can't understand how he's so constantly doing things.
He might be distracting himself from the reality of his own thoughts. If you tend to have an overly self-critical personality, or if you are generally unhappy about your present life situation, then sitting and doing nothing can afford you the opportunity to face the unpleasant thoughts that can come with such territory. Similarly, if your friend feels lonely, sitting around alone would afford him the opportunity to ponder his situation, which he may not want to do. I know I've had periods in my life where I had to keep myself distracted in order to avoid facing the pains that come along with heartbreak, a loss of a friend, etc. Watching the world go by, as you describe, tends to let reality settle in on one's self-awareness. That can be a hard thing to cope with.
Alternatively, your friend might just be the kind of person that values action above thought. There's nothing wrong with that, and I would wager that constantly doing things helps to fulfill your friend in ways nobody but himself understands. Ah well, to each their own.