SOCIOL 3HH3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Unicycle, Infomania, Long-Term Memory
Document Summary
Why the modern world is bad for your brain. Multi-tasking is just switching from activity to activity rapidly. There is a lag time in your brain when switching btwn tasks. Increases stress hormone, overstimulates the brain and causes mental fog. Depletes willpower throughout the day - constantly making decisions. Email and texts are the biggest culprits of depleting memory. Smartphones are addictive and makes us think that we are productive. Answering texts and emails makes us feel good in the short term. Being "in the zone" allows people to focus more and add things to their long-term memory. To be hyper-productive, you must minimize the amount of decisions you"re making per day. Changing how and under what circumstances you"re saying yes to. Inattentional blindness while walking and talking on a cell phone (2010) - observational study. Cellphones users walked slower, changed directions more frequently, and were less likely to acknowledge people in their path.