Digital Age: Brain Development and Cognitive Function

By Tim Gamble

   Between Shadows and Light.

A high school teacher I know related to me a conversation he had with one of his students. The student complained about a reading assignment my friend had given the class. When he asked the student what the problem was, the student replied "there's too many words. It hurts my brain." The student, according to my friend, was not trying to be funny, but was explaining a very real condition.

The Digital Environment

People under 40 grew up in an age of the Internet, social media, text messaging, and smart phones. The younger they are, the more immersed into this Digital Age they are.

The digital environment has fundamentally altered brain development in those under 40, especially the youngest among them. This fact is supported by various research in neuroscience and psychology. Here's an exploration of how this is affecting cognitive functions:

1. Neuroplasticity and Brain Wiring

• Adaptation to Digital Media: The brain's plasticity allows it to adapt to the environments it's most exposed to. For those who've grown up with the internet and mobile technology, neural pathways are more attuned to processing quick, multimedia content rather than long-form reading. This influences how the brain organizes information, favoring visual-spatial processing over sequential, narrative processing.
• Attention and Focus: The constant switching between tasks and the brief nature of digital content leads to a neural adaptation where the brain becomes more adept at handling brief, shallow dives into information rather than deep, focused attention. This might result in a shortened attention span, where maintaining focus on one task for extended periods is more challenging.

2. Cognitive Impact

• Shallow Understanding of Material:
  • Cognitive Load: When information is consumed in short bursts, there's less cognitive load on the working memory for depth. This can lead to a broad but shallow understanding of topics, as there's less motivation or practice in piecing together complex narratives or arguments.
  • Information Overload: With an abundance of information, individuals might skim the surface, picking up key points or buzzwords rather than fully digesting the content.
• Poor Critical Thinking Skills:
  • Reduced Analytical Depth: The habit of consuming information in small, disconnected pieces means less practice in critical analysis, where one needs to connect dots, infer, and critique. Critical thinking skills, which require time, reflection, and engagement with complex arguments, are not as developed.
  • Confirmation Bias: The echo chambers of social media and the quick consumption of information reinforces existing beliefs rather than challenging them, further stunting critical thinking development.
• Emotional vs. Rational Response:
  • Emotional Processing: Digital content often leverages emotional triggers to engage users quickly, leading to decisions or opinions formed based on emotional reactions rather than reasoned analysis. This is partly because emotional content is processed faster and more engaging in a high-speed digital context.
  • Neurological Pathways: The neural circuitry for emotional responses might become more dominant or easily activated, potentially at the expense of the more deliberate, slower pathways associated with rational thought.

3. Physical Discomfort with Long-Form Reading:

• Physiological Adaptation: As reading long texts becomes less common, the brain develops the neural pathways for this kind of processing more robustly. This often manifests as physical discomfort or cognitive fatigue when attempting to engage with long-form content, similar to how unused muscles might protest after sudden, intense use.
• Visual Processing Over Textual: The preference for visual and auditory media leads to a brain that's more adept at interpreting images and sounds, making textual processing less efficient.

Addressing Our Audience

In trying to win elections, influence politicians, promote ideas, or even gain readers to ones websites, we need to present information in a way that interests our audience, and so that they can process what we are communicating without difficulty. Since we are the ones with something to communicate, the burden is on us. 

For how I am trying to adapt my articles to a broader and younger audience in this digital age, please see my follow-up article to this one (article link).

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