Are You Addicted To Your Gadgets? March 03, 2007

Read more Consoles , DVRs , Digital Audio , Digital cameras , Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , HDTV , Hi-fi , Laptops , MP3 , Mobile phones , PDAs , Peripherals , Technology

gadgets pile.jpg

According to boffins at the LIFT 07 conference on technology in society, we could be becoming swamped by our little friends and losing the ability to make clear decisions. Phew, what a relief, I thought it was the alcohol.

Many experts think that the communications overload by being always contactable is impairing our ability to split our work lives from our social and personal lives. On the flip side, others said that the proliferation of gadgets and tech have allowed us to boost of cognitive abilities. According to Professor Fred Mast, of the University of Lausanne, in an interview with the BBC:

"I think that we can become overloaded. It depends on the situation, but I think we are underestimating the brain's capacity to adapt to new challenges. Studies have been done showing that people can actually enhance their cognitive abilities, which helps them to process more information at the same time. And their performance even transfers to other tasks.”

Watch a video interview on “Addicted to Technology” here. Now, back to fuelling my addiction. -Martin Lynch


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