Technology: What Is Tom Cheshire In Distracted?

Every device of technology that has been invented requires a user to input data to receive data. Without people typing questions into Google, without people uploading documents and videos the storage of data we see today would not exist. Without the power of the human mind, technology would not exist.

Technology is something that humans create and constantly advance to make life more efficient for others. Technology is a tool for humans to use as an aid to continue and make advancements to society and ourselves. Despite knowing that technology is a tool to help propel society into the future there are still some critics, such as family and occupational therapist Patricia Gutentag, who believe technology is the main reason why society is

so forgetful and dependent on technology.
Apps, however, are one tool technology has that has seen improvement in cognitive functioning. Nadine Kaslow, professor and vice chair at Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry and president of the American Psychological Association says, “We know that apps like Lumosity can improve memory, problem solving skills and processing speed, especially in older adults. There are also studies that show that people who engage in these video games are less likely to develop brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.” Lumosity is an app that is created specifically to help users improve their memory, attention, problem solving, processing speed or flexibility of thinking. These games change every time a user opens the app and is played against a clock. Apps such as lumosity not only challenges and improves users cognitive abilities, but these apps also teach older generations to stay engaged with the evolving technology. For those of you who are interested in looking up some more apps on the market that can give your brain a good work out, go lookup CogniFit Brain Fitness, Personal Zen, and Brain Trainer Special just to name a few.
Social Medias have had a negative association with being a huge distraction in our daily lives. What these people don’t realize, however, is how much we can benefit from these Social Medias to not only spread awareness of events but to learn as well. Clive Thompson, the author of the recent book Smarter Than You Think, references to Heidi Siwak, a primary-school teacher in Ontario. She has her classroom engage through Twitter. She will, for instance, have her student debate a book on the Holocauset with people around the world. I also had a professor in one of my classes have her students go on Twitter for discussions during her lectures. This is a great way to get millennials to become more engaged in their classrooms. Adapting our learning methods to a more relatable and technological driven approach doesn’t mean we are becoming dumber, it means our way of learning is expanding.
If our concentration and deep thinking is so limited, like Nicholas Carr in Is Google Making Us Stupid, believes then why is that evidence shows the average child from 1950 would be handicapped by today’s standard IQ tests, and the average child today would be gifted by the 1950s standards, according to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic in Is Technology Making Us Stupid (and Smarter). These studies explain the Flynn effect, a theory that describes how IQ test scores increase over time. The Flynn effect is possible and our intelligence continues to grow because of the constant development in technology. Younger people perform better than older generations because younger people have access to tools that older generations did not have.
With the change in test scores, it is also worth noting that the pathways of our brain are not set in stone. This adaptation due to experience is known as Brain Plasticity. This is evidence that not all ways we learn are permanent. It is ever changing. It was thought that such changes could only take place up till childhood, but modern research has discovered that the brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter existing ones in order to learn new information, create memories, and adapt to experiences, according to Nicholas Carr in Is Google Making Us Stupid. So if our brains are ever changing due to experience, we can’t continue to expect everyone to have the same skill set they once did 50 years ago.
Tom Cheshire in Distracted?

How Hyperstimulation is Making you Smart, understands that technology is a distraction but he also sees how “technology is making children more sociable, more expressive and more creative.” Cheshire also mentions how children are much better in dealing with the distraction technology brings when compared to adults. This highlights the fact that the same skills will not carry on from generation to generation. Rebecca Eynon, a researcher at Oxford University and the author of the book Teenagers and Technology believes that millennials are developing techniques to cope with the distractions technology brings, "They're very aware of what each of those tools does for them, what it's most appropriate for and who they can reach on that particular medium. They're flexible in being able to mix those things to meet their own

needs."
Technology does sometimes distract us. Instead of working on an assignment that needs to be done or a house chore, we may look at the gossip on Facebook or Twitter. While I admit that I am guilty of being distracted by the internet sometimes instead of doing my homework, I wouldn’t be as productive or produce the same quality of work without it. Even with all the distractions technology has to offer, we are reading and sharing our thoughts to others and expanding our knowledge to the world. Andrea Lunsford, a researcher at Stanford University, compared essays written by first-year students in 2006 to their equivalents in 1986, 1930, and 1917. What she found was not a change in grammar mistakes, but she found that “students’ writing had grown more sophisticated, tackling the kinds of issues that require inquiry and investigation as well as reflection.” Instead of being a distraction, technology inspired these essays. Technology inspires people to create. The fact that we can share our thoughts, fears, and hopes to others allows us to jump into a never ending sea of possibilities.
Technology allows us to create content for people in a variety of ways to fit their learning style.

The theory of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardner focuses on how people have different kinds of minds and therefore “learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways.” In the past students and people a like were restricted to only learning through the written or spoken word. Videos and pictures aided those who were visual learners, but the pictures needed to be printed and the videos needed to be purchased and obtained before. Now, however, any tool technology provides society with can be used to learn. There are apps on cellphones that enable students to create flashcards, there are tutorial videos on any subject imaginable on websites like Youtube, and there are texts, videos, and pictures on demand through any search

engine.
Instead of questioning the future of society from becoming dependent on technology, we should consider how technology can make us smarter. All new advancements are questioned, just like the Socrates bemoaned the development of writing, but all new advacements were created by us. Since they were created by us, they have potential for more creation?