How is technology affecting your family?
Computers, email, smart phones, video games, TV, etc., are fracturing the traditional nuclear family - fewer meals together, less interaction between generations, kids hide in their rooms with their computers speaking new text message/IM language
A child's brain is most sensitive and most exposed
- Average kid spends nearly 9 hrs every day using this technology
- American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV/videos before age 2
Bad news:
- Possible worsening of attention (increase ADHD)
- Less physical exercise and increase body weight
- Decreased social skills/eye contact
- Technology addiction to texting, email, video games and chatting
Good news:
- Better multi-tasking skills/peripheral vision (video gaming surgeons make fewer operating room errors)
- Better social computer networking, cyber communication
- Potential to train the brain in a positive way
Technology affects everyone's brain
- Recent UCLA study shows that brain activation is much greater during Internet searching than reading a book page. This activation was especially striking in the frontal lobe, which controls complex reasoning and decision making
- Video gaming appears to alter frontal lobe function and interfere with the ability to recognize a emotional facial expression
What can we do?
- Designate tech-free family time (dinners, evenings, weekends, etc.).
- Tech together - kids can teach parents and grandparents how to text, play games, email, etc.
- Look for clues to addiction, tech-driven ADHD, social withdrawal
- Get help - addiction specialists and clinics are now treating tech addicts
Dr. Gary Small will be speaking Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008 in Palo Alto:
Moderator: Jeff Zimman - CEO, Posit Science
Speaker: Gary Small, MD, Director of the Aging and Memory Research Center, Semel Institute
Location: Wilson Sonsini - 950 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto
Time: 6:00PM Registration, Hors d'oeuvres and Networking; 7:00PM Presentation and Panel Discussion
Registration: In advance here. $20.00 in advance on the website. $25.00 Walk-ins at the door (cash or check please, no credit cards accepted at door)
Buy the book on Amazon: iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind
About Dr. Gary Small
Gary Small, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry and Aging at UCLA, author of the international bestseller, The Memory Bible, and regular guest expert on the brain for NBC's TODAY Show. Scientific American magazine named him one of the world's top innovators in science and technology. Visit Small's website at www.DrGarySmall.com.
