Digital
revolution can cause structural changes in brains of children and
trigger mental health problems in adults, experts have warned.
MELBOURNE: Digital revolution can cause structural changes in brains of children and trigger mental health problems in adults, experts have warned.
Scientists are starting to worry that technology while transforming the way we live is also making people ill, The Age reported.
"I see kids clinically who spend the whole day engaged with electronic media and it's clearly a problem," said Professor George Patton from the Royal Children's Hospital's Centre for Adolescent Health.
"During those teenage years when the brain is in a very active phase of
development and learning to process information about relationships and
emotions, there's a concern that these kids are actually going to be
wired differently in the future, given the malleability of brains at
that age," Patton was quoted as saying by the paper.
"They may
grow accustomed to, and be more comfortable with, the kinds of
relationships that happen in this electronic space," Patton said.
Medical opinion is divided on whether technology will irreparably
rewire brains to crave instant gratification and screen-based
stimulation.
Some experts believe there is already clinical
evidence that behaviours such as online multitasking or addiction to
Facebook 'likes' bear the hallmarks of medical conditions such as
hyperactivity and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Larry Rosen,
a Californian psychologist and one of the world's leading authorities
on technology overuse, believes future generations will increasingly
suffer from "iDisorders" - psychiatric conditions such as narcissistic
personality disorder, mania and attention deficit disorder, sparked by
excessive use of social media, smartphones and computers.
He
said the consequences of living life through a screen are already being
seen in heavy users, who have diminished attention spans, impaired
learning and difficulty forming relationships in the real world.
No comments:
Post a Comment