Matthew Frasetto

Technology can be thought of as the application of knowledge to extend human ability. Technologies can be separated into a few different categories based on which human ability they extend (Carr, 2020). One category extends our physical strength and dexterity (Carr, 2020). This includes technologies like the jet, the car, and the gun. A second category extends our senses (Carr, 2020). We use technologies like the microscope, the telescope, and the x-ray to expand our senses. A third category extends our ability to reshape nature and biology (Carr, 2020). Technologies like the birth control pill, the dam, and CRISPR extend our ability to either reshape nature or biology. The fourth category extends our mental powers (Carr, 2020). The book, the typewriter, and the computer are some of the most prominent examples of technologies that extend our mental powers (Carr, 2020). These categories are all different avenues through which we deploy our knowledge to increase our abilities, and in turn, our power over the environment around us.

Human technology has evolved drastically over the millions of years that we have been creating and implementing it. Some of the earliest forms of technology were basic tools used for acquiring and preparing food. Another major early technological creation was an arsenal of tools used for creating fire, allowing humanity to harness fire’s heat and energy. One of the most important moments in the history of technological creation was the creation of the written word. This invention gave humanity the ability to store large amounts of information and knowledge, with great reliability, across time. Without the invention of a writing system, none of our most modern technologies would exist. The most important modern technology is the computer. The computer was originally created to execute mathematical calculations, but it turned out that computers could process any general information. From the computer, the internet was born. The internet enables computers to communicate vast amounts of information over great distances, with stunning speed and fidelity. Its creation has shaped the modern technological environment, and as we’ll soon see, our brains.

The human brain is plastic, meaning, the very structure of the brain is subject to change (Doidge, 2017). Change in the brain is governed by many forces, including the environment external to it, and the objects in it. The following quote contains a beautiful metaphor for explaining the effect of outer objects on the brain, “Flowing water hollows out a channel for itself which grows broader and deeper; and when it later flows again, it follows the path traced by itself before. Just so, the impressions of outer objects fashion for themselves more and more appropriate paths in the nervous system, and these vital paths recur under similar external simulation, even if they have been interrupted for some time” (Carr, 2020, as cited in James, 1890). Since technology is one of the most complex and powerful objects in the outer environment, it makes great impressions on the brain. Another characteristic of the brain’s ability to change is it’s “use it or lose it” feature. If mental structures do not receive frequent use, they decay and break apart. As we rely more and more on external technologies for the execution of our mental abilities, the very mental structures dedicated to those abilities weaken. In the modern world, we rely on technology for a vast number of mental abilities including thinking, memory, writing, arithmetic, communication, and navigation. This is because our software tools and applications often serve to augment or replace different aspects of our mental abilities. For example, social media augments our ability to socially interact and build connections. However, spending time on social media weakens our brain’s innate ability for in-person social interaction because the brain learns to rely on technology for social interaction. Another example includes our modern navigational technology’s tendency to weaken the brain’s ability to build mental maps of the surrounding landscape. The example most pertinent to this essay is the computer’s tendency to weaken multiple different brain structures, including those dedicated to memory and focus. Since technology has such great plastic effects on the brain, we must pay a great degree of attention to the technologies that we incorporate into our lives.

Modern technology is powerful. It has far more control over the structure of the brain than any previous era of human technology. Almost two hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “men have become tools of their tools” (Thoreau, 1917). This quote has only increased in pertinence over time. In the modern world, we are deeply reliant on our digital technology. There are clear reasons for this. Modern technology can transmit both visual and auditory information in seemingly boundless quantities. Whenever we access the internet, we are accessing more information than we could ever hope to consume. And because modern technology is deeply embedded in our environment, we are almost always accessing the internet. We are constantly being cued with information received through technology’s connection to the internet in the form of “notifications”. This disrupts our attention and scatters our focus. The effect is described in the following quote, “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently amongst the overabundance of information sources that might consume it” (Simon, 1971). The brain is tasked with frequent decisions on where to allocate its attention, which is a very difficult task in the modern world, because there are so many technologies calling for it. The internet is consuming a lot of human attention that, historically, would have been dedicated to in-person social interactions, physical movement, and moments of solitude and contemplation. Our brains are being pulled towards the never-ending flow of mental stimulation offered by technology and are disregarding activities essential to our health and well-being. Modern technology has carved out paths in all our most prominent, genetically endowed brain regions, include regions dedicated to social interaction, sexual gratification, spatial awareness, and emotional regulation. As modern technology continues to carve out more pathways in the brain, we are becoming more and more reliant on it. Most people can’t even imagine a life without it.

Since the technology that we use is created and controlled by large technology companies, it’s important to assess the ways in which these companies attempt to change our brains. Companies must compete for survival and success, and their goals are largely determined by the competitive environment that they are nested within. That competitive environment is known as the economy. The modern economy is commonly referred to as an “attention economy”. It is referred to as such, because the biggest companies in the world are competing for human attention. They compete in this way, because their business models rely on the collection of human attention and the sale of it to advertisers. Billions, if not trillions of dollars have been invested into making modern technology as compelling as possible to consume as much human attention as possible. To determine the most effective ways of attracting human attention, technology companies study human psychology at a deep level. Through these studies and experiments, technology companies have developed various ways of attracting attention, some more sinister than others. It turns out that the most effective way to reliably attract human attention is to alter people’s habits and, in many cases, addict them to digital products. The following are some of the various strategies that the biggest players in the modern “attention economy” take to create deep habits in their users. The biggest search engine company in the world, Google, uses the strategy of making as much information “free” as possible. Offering vast amounts of “free” information is a highly effective way to garner human attention and consistently build habits in people. Video game companies take a different approach. They create highly rewarding, virtual games, that lead players to want to spend large portions of their time immersed in them. Social media companies also create immersive environments, but rather than game environments, social media companies create social environments. In these virtual social environments, users are fed as much interesting social information as possible in an algorithmically curated, fast-paced, visual environment. It’s no coincidence that the constant stream of pictures and videos on social media platforms are referred to as the “feed.” Social media platforms are twenty-four seven buffets of all the world’s most relevant social information. One of the most sinister strategies is taken by internet pornography companies. These companies look to carve out a pathway in our brain region dedicated to sex and sexual seeking. These companies offer platforms that contain highly arousing sexual videos, in endless amounts, and in endless different flavors. All the previously discussed strategies are implemented through computer software. At the most basic level of software lies the computer operating software. Computer operating software enables us to have multiple programs open at the same time and allows us to easily switch between them. The same goes for smartphone operating software, which allows many different applications to run simultaneously. The programs and applications, which run simultaneously, are designed to offer rapidly changing, highly stimulating virtual environments. These virtual environments bleed into our physical environments by way of “notifications”. All this stimulatory technology and information overload mounts a brutal attack on the brain. The outcome of this battle being a brain that is over-aroused, confused, and easily distracted. A brain that no longer finds most experiences in the absence of modern technology rewarding.

Due to the potency of modern technology, mitigating the negative effects involves great curation of both the way in which we interact with it, as well as the amount of time that we spend interacting with it. We have both the power to decide what pieces of technology we utilize and where we position them in our environment. Search engines and social media applications tend to be the most addictive forms of modern technological software, because there is so much funding behind them, and they profit from gathering our data and attention. These are the pieces of technology that we need to spend the most time curating. Tactics like removing social media apps from smartphones and only accessing them through computer web browsers are helpful implementations. However, carving time out of the day to take a break from the technology all together is the most effective way to negate the harmful effects. The only way to take a true break from these modern technologies is to enter an environment that doesn’t contain them. Walking, exercising, socializing, meditating, reading, and writing in modern technology free environments are highly effective ways to give the brain a break from constant information attacks. Protecting your sleep from technological interferences is another highly effective way to give the brain time to refresh, free from external stimulation. Our brains are equipped with more power than anything in the known universe. With conscience attention and effort, we can learn how to interact with technology in a way that complements our greatest goals and values in life, instead of becoming mindlessly addicted to the powerful technological forces of the modern world.

References

Alter, A. (2018). Irresistible: The rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping US hooked. Penguin Books.

Carr, N. G. (2020). The shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains. W. W Norton & Company.

Doidge, N. (2017). The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of Brain Science. ReadHowYouWant.

Eyal, N., & Hoover, R. (2019). Hooked how to build habit-forming products. Portfolio/Penguin.

Newport, C., & Baker, D. (2021). Digital Minimalism: Choosing a focused life in a Noisy World. Penguin Books.

Thoreau, H. D., Bowman, J. C., ed. (1917) Walden, or, Life in the woods [Chicago, New York, Scott, Foresman and company]

Simon, H. A. (1971). Designing organizations for an information-rich world. In M. Greenberger

(Ed.), Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest (pp. 37-72). Johns Hopkins Press