Digital Invasion of the Teenage Brain March 2016

READ THE FOLLOWING….TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK:  “I opened an in May of 2012 and found this message from a young man…he titled his “Computer Addiction.”  At the age of 15 he was lonely and introverted and spent most of his free time on his computer in teen chat rooms. It was easier to “meet” people this way and talk about his own interests anonymously, … these chat rooms became a kind of obsession with him. He wrote that he was now 26 and his online experiences had become more real—and more pleasurable—than his “off- line” experiences. After that his life went into a downward spiral…at that point he spent most of his time divided between his “cyber self” and his “real self.”  Dr. Jensen responded with: “Being addicted to the Internet involves the same reward center as drugs and teenagers are more susceptible to addiction in general, so it was understandable from a neurobiological perspective how he could get caught up with it.

 Today’s teenagers and 20-somethings make up the first generation of young people exposed to such a breathtaking number of electronic distractions, and they are therefore susceptible to a whole new host of influences.  The cascade of neuroprocesses that kicks off the brain’s reward circuitry and the rush of the pleasure chemical Dopamine can be triggered as easily by the release of the latest iPhone as by alcohol, pot, sex or a fast car. In some ways technology is a drug.

University of Maryland – 2010:  Class Experiment….Find a 24-hour period during which you can pledge to give up all media: No internet, newspapers or magazines, no TV, no mobile phones, no iPod, no music, no movies, no Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, no Playstations, video games etc.  If you lapse, don’t give up. If you don’t make it for the full -24 hours, be honest about it. How long did you make it? What happened? What do you think it means about you?  1,000 students in 12 countries participated in this experiment, including U.S. students….  HOW DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD DO?

OUTCOMES:  From the United Kingdom:  Emptiness. Emptiness overwhelms me  Unplugging….felt like turning off a life-support system  I feel paralyzed  It felt like some kind of disorder, an addiction. I became bulimic with my media; I starved myself for a full 15 hours and had a full on binge.  From China:  I sat on my bed and stared blankly. I had nothing to do.  The feeling of nothing passed into my heart…I felt like I had lost something important  From Uganda:  I felt like there was a problem with me  I counted down minutes by minute and made sure I did not exceed even a single second more!  I felt so lonely

 From Mexico:  The anxiety continued for the rest of the day. Various scenarios came to my head, from kidnapping to extraterrestrial invasions  It was quite late and the only thing going through my mind was “I want Facebook. I want Twitter. I want YouTube. I want TV  From the United States:  I went into absolute panic mode  It felt as though I was being tortured  I began going crazy  I felt paralyzed – almost handicapped in my ability to live  I felt dead

Pew Research Study – 2011:  95% of all young people, ages 12 to 17, use the Internet  80% use Social Media  93% have Facebook accounts  41% have multiple accounts  Where do you fit?  Level of attachment is extreme….”My phone has my whole life in it. If I ever lost it I think I would die.”

VIDEO GAME OUTCOMES:  Gamers scored higher on risk taking than non-gamers  fMRI showed less connectivity to the gamer’s frontal lobe, but more connectivity in areas that have been linked to nicotine addiction  Gamers have smaller orbitofrontal cortex regions, area involved in modulation of risk-taking  Average young people, especially boys will have played about 10,000 hours of video games by age 21.  10,000 hours is the amount of time required to become an expert in any field  10,000 hours is more time than is required to get a bachelor’s degree.

Internet Addictions Indicators:  Most nonschool hours spent on the computer or playing video games.  Falling asleep in school  Falling behind with assignments  Worsening grades  Lying about computer or video game use  Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather an see friends  Dropping out of other social groups (clubs or sports)  Being irritable when not playing a video game or not being on the computer.  Carpal tunnel syndrome – joint pain in fingers, hands, and wrists – a consequence of repetitive motions that come with excessive keyboard use  Insomnia  Forgoing food in order to remain online  Neglecting personal hygiene and grooming in order to remain online  Headaches, back pain, and neck pain  Dry eyes and vision problems.

Possibly the Worst of All:  Our modern technology allows us to do things that once would have be considered a prank and a local one at that.  Today, our use of technology now has the ability to “put things out in the public domain” that once posted – we can’t get back…someone – somewhere will have downloaded or saved something we’ve posted and we can never, ever get it back – we can’t turn back time – anything we post – may come back to haunt us….  Let’s look at some scenarios that did happen…..

Case Studies:  #1. Sophomore Girl in a Public High School in Philadelphia involving Twitter  # – Rutgers University - Cyberbullying

Advice from the Professionals:  #3. Stuart Crabb of Facebook…  Director of Facebook:  “If you put a frog in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it’ll boil to death.”  It is important to be Aware of the Time Spent ON-LINE – it affects not only job performance but also relationships & overall quality of life  #4. Padmasree Warrior of Cisco….  Chief of Technology for Cisco:  She regularly advises her 22,000 employees under her “to disconnect & take a deep breath. Every night she meditates and on Saturday she paints & writes poetry – At these times her cell phone is OFF.