Benefit or plague: Internet can affect your brain, can affect your concentration

MELBOURNE: According to a study, intensive use of the Internet could alter the brain so as to affect our attention, our memory and our social interactions.

The research, published in the journal World Psychiatry, revealed that the Internet could produce acute and lasting alterations in specific areas of cognition, possibly reflecting changes in the brain.

The researchers investigated the main hypotheses on how the Internet might modify cognitive processes and then examined how these hypotheses were corroborated by recent research findings in psychology, psychiatry and neuroimaging.

"The key findings of this report are that high levels of Internet use could indeed affect many brain functions," said Joseph Firth, of the University of Western Sydney, Australia.

"For example, the unlimited flow of prompts and notifications from the Internet encourages us to constantly hold divided attention, which can in turn reduce our ability to stay focused on a single task," he said. Firth.

"In addition, the online world now presents us with a unique resource, vast and permanently accessible, which contains information and facts, which are never more than simple gestures," he said.

"Since we literally have most of the world's factual information at hand, it seems to have the potential to start changing the way we store, and even the value, the facts and the knowledge in society and the world. in the brain, "said Firth. .

The widespread adoption of these online technologies, as well as social media, is also a source of concern for some teachers and parents, researchers said.

The World Health Organization's 2018 guidelines recommended that young children (aged 2-5) be exposed to one hour per day or less of screen time.

However, the report also revealed that the vast majority of research on the effects of the Internet on the brain had been conducted in adults.

Additional research is needed to determine the pros and cons of using the Internet in young people, according to researchers at the University of Western Sydney, Harvard University in the United States , and Kings College, Oxford University and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

According to Firth, although more research is needed, avoiding potential negative effects could be as simple as ensuring that children do not miss other crucial developmental activities, such as social interactions and social interactions. exercise, spending too much time on digital devices.

"To help with this, there are now a multitude of applications and software available to restrict the use of the Internet and access to smartphones and computers – what parents and parents people in charge can use to define "family-friendly" rules on personal devices, as well as the types of content used, "he said.

"It's also important to talk to kids about how their online lives affect them," Firth said. It is therefore important to identify children at risk of cyberbullying, addiction or even exploitation, and thus allow rapid intervention to avoid adverse outcomes. "

The bombardment of stimuli via the Internet, and the resulting shared attention, are the subject of many concerns, said Professor Jerome Sarris of Western Sydney University.

"I think that, with the strengthening of #Instagramification of society, has the ability to alter the structure and functioning of the brain, while potentially changing our social fabric," said Sarris.