What technology does to your brain

The ubiquity of computers and the Internet has increasingly raised weighty questions about the effects of technologies and media on our intelligence.

Adding to the topic's popularity is a recently released book titled "Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter," which postulates, among other things, that TV and video games can enhance a child's cognitive abilities.

Given that Blogma can at times find itself intellectually challenged, at least according to some readers, we hardly qualify as any kind of authorities on the subject. But even our tiny brains find some sense in the notion that we all will need more mental calisthenics to stay fit in the digital age.

Blog community response:

"'When it comes to understanding the use of media in education and development, take a tip from the professor. Don't start with the technology,' says Harvard professor Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies. 'When you start with technology, it's a solution looking for a problem.' He starts, instead, with learning styles. 'No matter what age you are, your learning style can be shaped by the kind of media you use.'"
--digital divide network

"I remain an avid reader and collector of books, that is hardly likely to change. What has changed, however, is my understanding of the video game and--some--television programs. When these are combined with real life and personal interaction amongst peers and contemporaries; the exchange of ideas and the propagation of useful information, combined with an enhancement to the intellectual, cognitive skills then there is nothing to be held against measured playing or watching."
--Private Intellectual

"Did this movie make me smarter? Certainly not, though I did work hard at figuring out the motivations of all three characters. The experience required much of me--a readiness to undergo unhealthy anxiety--for negligible rewards. The mental exercise of trying to comprehend a character may make us intelligent--but only our succeeding at that exercise can make us satisfied. And only the script can enable that."
--Metta Spencer's weblog

"Given my own brain's extremely limited capacity, I've moved myself firmly into the 'I know everything; I just keep it out there on the Web so I can recall it as needed' camp."
--datacloud