Is Surfing the Internet Altering your Brain?

CANBERRA (Reuters)- The Internet is not just changing the way people live but alteringthe way our brains work with a neuroscientist arguing this is anevolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the newsocial order.

Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializesin brain function, has found through studies that Internet searchingand text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering informationand making snap decisions.

But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity itcan have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friendsare virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention DeficitDisorder diagnoses.

Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top inthe next generation will be those with a mixture of technological andsocial skills.

"We’re seeing an evolutionary change. The people in the nextgeneration who are really going to have the edge are the ones whomaster the technological skills and also face-to-face skills," Smalltold Reuters in a telephone interview.

"They will know when the best response to an email or Instant Message is to talk rather than sit and continue to email."

In his newly released fourth book "iBrain: Surviving theTechnological Alteration of the Modern Mind," Small looks at howtechnology has altered the way young minds develop, function andinterpret information.

Small, the director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at theSemel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and the Center onAging at UCLA, said the brain was very sensitive to the changes in theenvironment such as those brought by technology.

He said a study of 24 adults as they used the Web found thatexperienced Internet users showed double the activity in areas of thebrain that control decision-making and complex reasoning as Internetbeginners.

"The brain is very specialized in its circuitry and if you repeatmental tasks over and over it will strengthen certain neural circuitsand ignore others," said Small.

"We are changing the environment. The average young person nowspends nine hours a day exposing their brain to technology. Evolutionis an advancement from moment to moment and what we are seeing istechnology affecting our evolution."

Small said this multi-tasking could cause problems.

He said the tech-savvy generation, whom he calls "digital natives,"are always scanning for the next bit of new information which cancreate stress and even damage neural networks.

"There is also the big problem of neglecting human contact skillsand losing the ability to read emotional expressions and bodylanguage," he said.

"But you can take steps to address this. It means taking time to cutback on technology, like having a family dinner, to find a balance. Itis important to understand how technology is affecting our lives andour brains and take control of it."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)