Email destroys the mind faster than marijuana - study

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By: Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco

Modern technology depletes human cognitive abilities more rapidly than drugs, according to a psychiatric study conducted at King's College, London . And the curse of 'messaging' is to blame. Email users suffered a 10 per cent drop in IQ scores, more than twice the fall recorded by marijuana users, in a clinical trial of over a thousand participants. Doziness, lethargy and an inability to focus are classic characteristics of a spliffhead, but email users exhibited these particular symptoms to a "startling" degree, according to Dr Glenn Wilson.

The deterioration in mental capacity was the direct result of the trialists' addiction to technology, researchers discovered. Email addicts were bombarded by context changes and developed an inability to distinguish between trivial and significant messages. Incredibly, 20 per cent of trialists jeopardized their immediate social relations by rushing off to "check their messages" in the middle of a conversation.

Wilson 's research is no flash in the pan. Computer technology in its modern, "interconnected" form is dumbing down the population more rapidly than television.

A study of 100,000 school children in over 30 countries around the world testified that non-computer using kids performed better in literacy and numeracy schools than PC-using children. Education experts have dubbed it the "problem solving deficit disorder".

Awashed with facts,we've forgotten how to think

King's College's pioneering study focused solely on messaging - today we can extend thesse results to many other social networks - and there are many other emerging technologies that could be dumbing down technologies too, and their consequences haven't been fully explored.

E-mail destrói a mente mais rápido que maconha -estudo

Por: Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco

A tecnologia moderna exaure as capacidades cognitivas do ser humano, mais rapidamente que as drogas, de acordo com um estudo psiquiátrico conduzido no King’s College de Londres. E a maldição do “messaging” é a culpada. Usuários de e-mail sofreram queda de 10% em seu Q.I. , mais do dobro da queda registrada por usuários de maconha, em um teste de mais de mil participantes. Tontura, letargia e falta de habilidade de concentração são características clássicas de um viciado, mas usuários de e-mail exibiram estes sintomas a um grau assustador, de acordo com o Dr. Glenn Wilson.
A deterioração da capacidade mental foi resultado direto do vício dos testados à tecnologia, descobriram os pesquisadores. Os viciados em e-mail são bombardeados por mudança de contexto e desenvolveram uma inabilidade de distinguir entre mensagens triviais e importantes. Inacreditavelmente 20% dos testados põem em risco suas relações sociais imediatas para sair correndo e “checar as mensagens” no meio de uma conversa.