Submitted by OpenlyFallible t3_zb3md9 in science
>Bit by bit, our agency is being taken away, and we aren't really even aware of it
>“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” - George Orwell, 1984
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Google “the Ennui Engine.”
In short, the trouble isn’t just the whiplash; it’s the fact that we’re starving ourselves while filling up on junk.
I like the idea, but I think society is re-discovering the same few problems again and again. The hedonic treadmill seems relevant here.
That we pay smaller prices, i.e. invest ourselves less in things, is a valuable observation though. Worse working memory, half-assing engagement, laziness, nihilism and the destruction of value, these all seem related.
The other factors have already been answered. If we consider where were are as 0, and where we want to go as 100, then we're always behind. Worse still is to consider the place we want to go as 0, because then we're in minus. In reality, what we have already is valuable.
Enjoy the process towards a goal and you'll have fun, enjoy only the goal and you'll suffer.
Another problem is literally getting used to things. This is solved in "The book of Est". Also partly by mindfulness, which observes rather than categorize every sensory impression into old models, so that everything is merely parsed (recognized as a hashed value), preventing change and novelty. The biggest sign that a thing has been reduced to a symbol and parsed is that you cannot reverse it. You can recognize a word when you hear it, but can you remember it if without hearing it? If not, that's a one-way association.
For the sake of efficiency, the brain might reduce all of live into a stream of familiar symbols, and discard anything which doesn't fit as "wrong". And you end up with a nihilistic person who is unable to change his mind or see value in things.
50% my own thoughts, so I don't have any more sources for you
Thanks for making me google that
Could this also not be a good thing for people who care to much?
A "good" thing is relative ... caring too much about others is not necessarily detrimental to society. It might be detrimental to the individual, but not to society at large. A lack of empathy, and generally not caring about anything to the point of nihilism could be incredibly destructive to society.
We live in a period of unprecedented peace - because those who would otherwise be following this or that faction into war for whatever idea seemed like a good idea at the time - are busy arguing on the internet instead.
Not trying to discredit this specific study / article, but why are there so many PsyPost articles in this subreddit? It's a pretty terrible source, and the majority of the time I look into the research referenced it's either misrepresented, terribly flawed methodologically, or objectively biased.
Thanks for actually writing something cogent, rather than "psypost is a trash rag" like most people seem to say.
Can you repeat that, but like I'm dumb?
Trying to start a Satanic Panic. The structural changes to grey matter is no different from anyone who masters a skill.
Grey Matter volume decreases, but becomes more compact, dense, and efficient.
It's meaningless cuz it doesn't actually state a negative. It says 2 things basically, gray matter being reduced and changes in your brain associated with phone use.
The gray matter being reduced, I admit that sounds bad, but unless I know what negative affects that has if any, why would I be worried? It does not neccasrily mean it's bad.
The changes is even more vague. How's that neccassirily bad?
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Does that mean I am turning into a vegetable even as I read this?
How would you know?
I already have brain damage; a little more won't do much.
"Use of smartphone" is a wide concept
Does it specificy what contents the individuals were consuming? I dont think someone who spends all time on instagram is in the same biat as someone who constantly watches philosophy and science videos on their smartphone.
or is it just a matter of less real life social interaction.
Came here to say the same. Some people just hang out in Instagram with tier smartphones. Others learn languages, read books or articles. Both will count towards "smartphone use", but I doubt effect on the brain is going to be the same.
What's the cutoff for excessive?
If you have to ask, you’re over it. Probably safer to say, if you use a mobile phone, you’re over it.
The article says it's at the level of addiction, so no.
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This is the same explanation they gave for changes to the brain frorn surfing porn.
But then they did an analysis of the decreased grey matter volume and found that it was more compact and efficient.
Then they found that this compaction and efficiency gain was also seen in master chess players, tennis players, and just about anyone who spent a lot of time mastering a skill.
Then they tried to backtrack and lower the visibility of their initial studies, after the initial Satanic Panic they tried to start.
Do you have sources? You're also implying that this would be the same way, but that's not a very good reason to believe that to be the case.
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What's efficient is our judgement, that's the issue. We don't experience new things or question ourselves if it's all a set of heuristics. You can't enjoy porn if you don't experience it anymore, if it loses its depth and emotional impact.
The results aren't "Porn makes people smarter". Do you know what else is efficient? Trauma. It's like a cached interpretation. Things = bad, bypassing all the calculations required to get there.
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That’s 90% of the people on the entire planet - actually explains a lot.
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I’m antisocial and I’m entertaining myself.
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What about excessive Reddit use?
Better than most platforms if you're mainly reading instead of looking at several images or shortform video clips in a row, but can still be a problem if you can't stop when you know you should be working or sleeping etc during that time instead.
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I'm curious if this applies to smartphone use in general, or specifically to how the smartphone is used. Perhaps it's what most people are doing on their phones that has this effect.
I don't see how comparing the MRI's of different people could tell you that one group had "changes" in their brains, or "reduced" gray matter.
These would be "differences" or "differences". Changes/reduced terminology implies something has happened, and is misleading for people to hear. Other headlines will say "phones shrink your brains!"
Damn that would be most
Exact-Permission5319 t1_iypb6l7 wrote
It's saying that users' emotional processing is impacted. Probably something similar to compassion fatigue, where being shown a serious news story, followed by a silly story, followed by a serious story, etc etc over and over in cycles reduces our ability to actually care about things.
Bit by bit, our agency is being taken away, and we aren't really even aware of it.