- We Socialise In A New Way - we don’t learn how to read facial expressions or navigate “real world” social situations.
- It's Becoming Harder To Concentrate - Heavy multitaskers are much more easily distracted.
- The Types Of Friends We Make Is Changing - We're becoming more tribal and less exposed to people with interests or beliefs different from our own.
- There’s An Awe-Inspiring Online World To Discover - Our fondness for the search field may lead to real-life adventures later on.
- Privacy May Soon Be A Thing Of The Past - We might be forced to change our names one day in order to escape our cyber past.
- We Could Stay Sharper, For Longer - Searching and browsing on the internet exercises the brain in a way that is similar to solving a crossword puzzle.
- We Procrastinate More - At the flip of your wrist, there’s YouTube, chat rooms, jokes, humour – whatever’s your poison, it’s all out there.
- Video Games Are Teaching Us New Skills - The skills required for video games are being harnessed to useful ends in education, health and even geo-politics.
- Technology Is Starting To Correct The Damage It Causes - RSI will soon be a thing of the past. Instead, everything we presently see on computers, games consoles, tablets or smartphones will be projected in front of our eyes and we will use hand gestures and voice commands instead of keyboards, mouse clicks or iPhone “swipes”.
- We’re Becoming Less Empathetic - This is down to the superficial way we consume information.
- Our Memory Is Deteriorating - As it is now so easy to find information via Google we are getting worse at remembering any facts at all.
- We're Becoming “Cyberchondriacs” - GPs now estimate a day a week is spent dealing with patients who have diagnosed themselves online.
It will probably be years before we start to really understand the impact of some of these drawbacks and potential issues.
"I'm certainly not opposed to digital technology, whose graces I daily enjoy and rely on in so many ways. But I worry about our virtual blinders."
~~ Diane Ackerman
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| The Twelve Apostles - Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia - April 2014 |
