Internet And Your Brain: Psychological Effects Of Online World

Can you imagine what your life would be like without the Internet? The Internet brought the thrill of instant information into our lives — as well as instant enjoyment, instant drama, and instant stress. What would happen to all the numerous Google searches we all do in one single day without the Internet, and how would we communicate with people? The Internet is one of the most widely accessible media today.

How the internet is changing your brain

In 2011, the Science magazine published the results of an experiment, which showed that college students remembered less information when they knew that the information could later easily be accessed on the computer. Instead of relying on our brains to store information long-term, we now rely on Google to store the information.

Author Nicholas Carr notes that every time we use the Internet, it is like reading a book while doing a crossword puzzle. In his book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, Carr argues that even though people get better at switching pages, they begin to lose their ability to employ a more slow and contemplative mode of thought.

Internet use improves brain function in older people

Using the Internet boosts brainpower in older people, however, according to a team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. They found that key centers of the brain that control decision making and reasoning are triggered while Internet searching, probably improving brain function. 

Dr. Gary Small, the lead researcher says, “Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.” He added that our brains are malleable and change in response to the environment. The brain is sensitive and learning at any age stimulates the brain. 

In older people, a number of changes occur as the brain ages, causing it to shrink and lose power. The atrophy and reduced cell activity can affect cognitive ability. Activities such as crossword puzzles that stimulate the brain help reduce the impact of age on the brain and preserve brain function. The researchers compare Internet usage and brain stimulation similar to activity doing crossword puzzles.

Digital natives and digital immigrants

Digital natives and digital immigrants form part of the generation gap today. Digital natives are people who were born into a technological world of electronic gadgets where laptops and cell phones are constantly used for communicating. This group spends over eight hours daily on digital technology, and has never considered any other possibility. To this generation, the internet is their native habitat; the place where they are home.

The bright side is that the digital exposure this generation experiences is rewiring their brain’s neural network and improving skills of reasoning and decision. However, the Internet is diminishing their “people skills”, including empathy and the ability to socialize confidently in-person.

Digital immigrants, who have not always lived in this hyper-connected world and remember a time dominated by the land line telephone, fax, and CD player, have to work hard to accept the new technology because they were born into a world of pocket calendars and letters sent in the mail. They often catch up quickly, but will never be quite as at home in the digital world as the later generations.