Web addiction and brain change

[FranzB]

It is exactly this "lust" for knowledge that resulted in you being able to send your message from the comfort of your four walls to a server a few thousand km away and let others around the globe read it.

 

[Qdos]

If "web-addiction" isn't bad enough now... just wait until humans are all fitted with cranial Wi-Max and Bluetooth type neural interfaces, just imagine the difficulty in remembering your public and private keys and your future WPA-PSKv355 xx thousand bit login details...

 

[FranzB]

Well, somewhere on this forum there is a thread about devices (computer, etc.) being controlled by our brain waves.
Could perhaps be turned around somehow, i was thinking. Or? Imagine then someone stealing your password :sarc:

 

[Qdos]

I'm afraid mans understanding of the human brain remains extremely primitive...

I wouldn't let any studies worry me too much personally, we are still in the dark ages in this respect!

 

[FranzB]

That is true. A long time ago i often had discussions about that with a geologist friend of mine. He thought we would know soon how the brain functions. My philosophical counter was how you could understand the brain by using that same brain. But who knows.

 

[M1GU31]

Not only childish but also very dumb remarks.

get some humor ,not even being serious .......:sarc: what a grinch

 

[pincushion]

That is true. A long time ago i often had discussions about that with a geologist friend of mine. He thought we would know soon how the brain functions. My philosophical counter was how you could understand the brain by using that same brain. But who knows.

It seems we are doing this not only by looking inside our own brains but also by looking at the brains of other species which do seem to have much in common with us. It is an interesting thought that how could we ever know the true nature of the material world when that is all we have to inspect it with - the smallest particles I mean and the current LHC research.

:huh: :huh:

 

[FranzB]

Well, somewhere on this forum there is a thread about devices (computer, etc.) being controlled by our brain waves.
Could perhaps be turned around somehow, i was thinking. Or? Imagine then someone stealing your password :sarc:

Just today on BBC News!

BBC News - Ten top predictions for life 100 years from now

 

[FranzB]

Not only childish but also very dumb remarks.

get some humor ,not even being serious .......:sarc: what a grinch

Even as a "joke" the postings of both of you can hardly be called humorous, let alone adding anything worthwhile to this discussion.

 

[JerometheGiraff]

There is alot of junk on the internet. Without even noticing I've killed (2) hours on YouTube alone, multiple that with information and other interests and, well 12 hours can be gone in a flash, factor in if you play online games and, well you do the math. Why people need TV I'll never know when I can find the news of the day four times over, at a cost of close to $100.00 US (including POTS) when my lousy Internet offer expires and with my current financial situation I have chosen my internet over food, how much can I really eat, besides I can go to the store and pick up some crap food and down it I'll take on 4000 calories easy, if I choose food over the internet it would work out the same anyhow, and if I can't have both then I'm not online, on I'd be on the street cussing someone off about politics or something to do with technology, or the world telling them I want some change for a damn meal.

 

[lehnerus2000]

A counterpoint

That is true. A long time ago i often had discussions about that with a geologist friend of mine. He thought we would know soon how the brain functions. My philosophical counter was how you could understand the brain by using that same brain. But who knows.

I see what you are saying.

I've always been fascinated by how it is possible to make ever more accurate devices/tools, using the previous generation's less accurate devices/tools.

Consider gears.
Someone had to hand "carve" the first gear and then using that, they (or someone else) created a more accurate gear and so on.

My friend often says, "if you bang a few rocks together in certain ways and for long enough, you can create any manufactured object."

 

[msdos622wasfun]

Whenever I think of addiction, I think of two things: The environment vs. nature/nurture debate, or in other words, do we allow ourselves to get addicted to something through some act of personal choice or volition (so many fun video games to play because we're bombarded by them) or are we just simply biologically programmed to fall into that pattern of behavior (can't help it), and also, is addiction filling the "void" of something else more wholesome that should be there but isn't, such as happiness, love, money, etc.

 

[seekermeister]

msdos622wasfun,

Even the worst of addictions remains a choice. It doesn't matter whether it originated by birth, environment or any other factor. One may not control or choose what they are born with or adapt to, but they do choose whether to retain or overcome it/them, therefore the phrase "can't help it" is invalid.

 

[Layback Bear]

msdos622wasfun,

Even the worst of addictions remains a choice. It doesn't matter whether it originated by birth, environment or any other factor. One may not control or choose what they are born with or adapt to, but they do choose whether to retain or overcome it/them, therefore the phrase "can't help it" is invalid.

Bingo well said!

 

[Bertison]

Any addictive personality (yes, they do exist) will eventually find something that floats their specific neural boat.

I have an 18-year old grandson with Asperger's Syndrome. Some years ago, I built him his first PC. Now he is studying Computer networks and security (CISCO) and will take a 'gap Year' to work in that fioeld, before attending Uni. He spends many hours in his room, building Virtual Networks. Is he addicted? No - he does not socialise well, he interacts poorly with others he does not know, but the use of computers brought out his genius -level intelligence (MENSA - measured) and gave it direction.

I would resist any attempt to scan his head!

 

[Artales]

msdos622wasfun,

Even the worst of addictions remains a choice. It doesn't matter whether it originated by birth, environment or any other factor. One may not control or choose what they are born with or adapt to, but they do choose whether to retain or overcome it/them, therefore the phrase "can't help it" is invalid.

Semantics. I can't agree with that.

 

[pincushion]

Any addictive personality (yes, they do exist) will eventually find something that floats their specific neural boat.

I have an 18-year old grandson with Asperger's Syndrome. Some years ago, I built him his first PC. Now he is studying Computer networks and security (CISCO) and will take a 'gap Year' to work in that fioeld, before attending Uni. He spends many hours in his room, building Virtual Networks. Is he addicted? No - he does not socialise well, he interacts poorly with others he does not know, but the use of computers brought out his genius -level intelligence (MENSA - measured) and gave it direction.

I would resist any attempt to scan his head!

I think the new technology is definitely having some effect on us but probably for the good as well as for detrimental afeects - perhaps this has some bearing -

Multitasking may harm the social and emotional development of tweenage girls, researchers say

I think too much of anything is the basic problem and although we do seem to be trending towards an ever dependent reliance on technology it does make sense to avoid a complete dependence. There are signs that some people are becoming less able to focus or concentrate on single areas and this might be attributed to the way information is much more 'bitified' than it used to be. I think we are all perhaps liable to an addiction of some sort as the collecting trait seems to be universal in humans - how much of that downloaded 'free' content do we actually need?

 

[Artales]

Hi, I'm new around here, sorry for jumping into the thread. When I discovered the 'Internet', around 1993, I'd originally been interested in BBSs. A friend gave me an old modem and together with my Amiga I'd log into domestic telephones connected to personal computers and very shakily leave messages on something along the lines of this forum, mostly technical stuff much of which I didn't understand. It was fascinating. I was like a kid with a new train set and most people I showed this to thought I was a kid. They'd also thought I was a kid when I showed them my ZX80.
New websites were announced in magazines back then and Microsoft didn't believe the Internet would take off.
Technology has been around a lot longer even than farming and I don't mean phenotypical stuff and now I read there's only one days supply of food in supermarkets here in Britain at any time, an awful state of affairs, so at present we're completely screwed without it. The distortion in thinking astounds me, much like the evolution of roads; over two thousand years of technology to get them level and then someone puts bumps on them.
Anyway, the same dreadful dependency now exists with the Internet.
My expectation for the Internet as a knowledge and communication medium is very different from those who have been born post-Internet and no doubt their expectations will model it to their needs more fundamentally than I... Shopping, I am told is a cultural activity and the Internet is perfect for 'shopaholics'. I think it much more likely that 'The Media' is to blame for the aforementioned 'short-circuitry' and not the brain nor indeed the Internet itself. It has not taken long for the Internet to be hi-jacked. I'm not referring to 'convenience' here, but the sheer ferocious mental weight and dependence on advertising and commerce; perhaps I am not as 'immersed' as some would like me to be.
I'm wary that portraying certain 'activities' as 'damaging' is a dangerously subjective viewpoint however I don't like the current deployment and dependency, it's a 'house of cards' and if it does come crashing down or it's denied, there will be some fairly dysfunctional people around. I'm sure I've a pencil here somewhere... Thanks for reading, peace and love.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?tta

 

[Influx]

A few questions to ask. Do you consider yourself addicted to technology? If yes, does it affect you in any way? Enumerate the effects. Do you wish to continue your addiction? If yes, then you're certainly addicted.