Texting makes you stupid. Yes, there is a lot of research which reports that you get dumber every time you text. Here’s some smart things to do about that.
Do you ever have the feeling that the world is getting dumber and dumber by the minute? (With the exception of you, of course).
Well, its not in your head. (For once, right?)
I was recently stumbling down the proverbial rabbit whole of the world wide interwebs. Sure enough, I happened upon a very interesting passage from a book called “Your Brain at Work” by David Rock.
Here’s an excerpt from the book:
“A study done at the University of London found that constant emailing and text messaging reduces mental capability by an average of ten points on an IQ test. It was five points for women, and fifteen points for men.
This effect is similar to missing a night of sleep.
For men, it’s around three times more than the effect of smoking cannabis.
While this fact might make an interesting dinner party topic, it’s really not that amusing that one of
the most common ‘productivity tools’ can make one as dumb as a stoner.
(Apologies to technology manufacturers: there are good ways to use this technology, specifically being able to ‘switch off’ for hours at a time.)
‘Always on’ may not be the most productive way to work. (…) The brain is being forced to be on ‘alert’ far too much. This increases what is known as your allostatic load, which is a reading of stress hormones and other factors relating to a sense of threat.
The wear and tear from this has an impact.(…) This (state of) always on (…) has created an artificial sense of constant crisis.
What happens to mammals in a state of constant crisis is the adrenalized fight-or-flight mechanism kicks in. It’s great when tigers are chasing us. How many of those five hundred emails a day is a tiger?”
And not just you. Me too!
According to this research, I get a little dumber every time I surf the net, check my emails, or scroll Instagram, or text with my BFF – all AT THE SAME TIME.
And by dumber, I mean I literally and neuro-scientifically become more stupid.
As mentioned above, according to David Rock this “always on” stuff can decrease a gal’s IQ by as much as 5 points!
(Plus as mentioned above, a guy’s IQ decreases by 15 points!)
By being continually “plugged in,” we have put ourselves into a perpetual state of stress.
No wonder I have a major anxiety problem! (And I’m a YOGA TEACHER!).
Certainly, none of us can afford to add more stress into our already busy lives. Nor can we afford to lose any brain cells!
Then again, my BFF just texted me, my latest IG post is blowing up my phone, and shopbop just refreshed its feed.
So, what’s a modern girl to do?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Evan Cooper is a yoga teacher, wellness coach, writer, mama, seeker, dreamer.
She’s the author of Um, Like…OM: A Girl Goddess’s Guide To Yoga (Little, Brown & Co.)
Check out The Anxiety Cure Online Course.
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