Is technology rewiring our brains?
A recent Daily Herald newspaper article mentioned the concept of “acquired attention deficit disorder” as modern technology changes the way that our brains process information. “If our attention span constricts to the poit where we can only take information in 140-character sentences, then that doesn’t bode too well for our future,” said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, director of Stanford University’s Impulse Control Disorders Clinic.
“The more we become used to just sound bites and tweets,” Aboujaoude said, “the less patient we will be with the more complex, meaningful information. And I do think we might lose the ability to analyze things with any depth and nuance. Like any skill, if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
As a chiropractic physician, I believe that the brain is not only becoming re-wired as this doctor explained, but also in a physical way as well. When we become reliant on technology, we do not move like we used to and the brain starts to lose contact with the small muscles that control the spine and other joints. Could it be that the recent influx in lumbar disc injuries and deconditioned teenagers is directly caused by our short attention span?
Chiropractic is an amazing way to naturally re-wire the brain, but let’s try to keep it wired by moving our lives off the “technology grid.”