Technological Gadgets Are Brain Hatchets

We humans are such odd creatures! We all want to avoid Alzheimer’s Disease; yet we live our lives doing everything in ways that cause Alzheimer’s Disease.

 

This is mostly due to the fact that your brain has a default mode of “lazy.” That’s right. Your brain will always seek the easiest possible way to do every task so that it doesn’t have to do any work. And, if that sounds logical to you, it’s a perfect example of your own brain’s default mode of “lazy.”

What the human brain needs for prevention of Alzheimer’s is mental challenges. It needs to calculate equations, recall spellings, focus on one thing at a time, and figure things itself. I guess this constitutes the old-fashioned way of doing things ... using your head (as my father used to say).

 

But it seems that the more sophisticated we get in terms of functional ease, the less resistant our brains get in terms of disease.

 

In the old days, if you needed to calculate something mathematically, you either did the equation in your head, or you put pen to paper. Then you figured out the equation yourself using your good ole’ brain. And, while your lazy brain may not have liked it, you still came up with the answer.

 

But now, humans use neither their brains nor pen and paper. Instead, they use calculators. When was the last time you figured out a mathematical equation (even a simple one) in your head instead of using your calculator? When was the last time you pulled out pen and paper to do a mathematical equation?

 

You see? Your brain’s default mode will force you to reach for that calculator in a heartbeat.

 

Before we had computers, you used a bound dictionary to look-up and spell words correctly; you edited your writing; and you felt embarrassed if your spelling or grammar were poor. You took the time to make sure you wrote as well as you could.

 

But now, you probably have “spell check” on your computer. In fact, because the collective conscious of the general public is on “lazy” default mode, spell check is probably an automatic feature on your computer. Most likely, you can’t even turn it off. The makers of your computerized devices can’t imagine any human who would actually want to check his or her own spelling!

 

So, the computer inserts red underlining for any word that isn’t a word.

 

Oh, but that’s not all! Instead of merely notifying you of the misspelled word, your computer actually corrects if for you! Ahhh, but it does not do so with the logic of your human brain or the sentence you intended to write. Instead, it just changes it to the word the computer finds most similar to your misspelled word.

 

The result is sentences that make absolutely no sense at all. Why? Because your brain’s default mode is just too enticed by the option of letting the computer do the spelling.

 

Before we had computers that enabled you to cut and paste, you had to reconstruct anything you edited. It wasn't quick, and it wasn’t easy. But, because you had to actually do the reconstructing yourself, the process forced you to re-read and edit your work. In so doing, you discovered all sorts of little mistakes. And you corrected them.

 

But now that you can just cut and paste huge chunks of text from one place to another, you don’t bother re-reading. You assume you wrote everything just fine the first time. And, thanks to your lazy brain, you don’t have to bother going over it again ... especially if the computer’s spell-check function hasn’t highlighted anything. If the computer thinks it’s fine, your brain is fine with that.

 

That’s why you find all sorts of websites, books, documents, and articles with glaring errors these days. Nobody bothered to check them before publishing them. Nobody seems to care that the mistakes are a reflection on them. Your lazy brain agrees.

 

And humans don’t even want to do anything even as simple as reading anymore. Instead of reading written books, we listen to audio books. Your lazy brain says, “Why read the book yourself when you can let the machine read the book to you?”

 

Even map reading is a thing of the past. If you want to navigate, you don’t even have to see where you’re going on a map. Curiosity be damned! Your GPS does all the work for you, and your lazy brain is just fine with your ignorance of geographical location and direction.

 

Can your already-lazy brain get any lazier?

 

Before we had such advanced technology, you had to do just one thing at a time. You had to focus. Your brain loved that because it really can’t handle more than one thing at a time. And, although that’s in keeping with its lazy default mode, it actually serves to make it stronger. Focus forced your brain to work the way it is intended to work.

 

But now, with all the distractions that the technological world has presented, your lazy brain is in a constant state of overwhelm. So, instead of trying to ignore the endless distractions, it just flits from one thing to another as quickly as the technological gadget can. Of course, you only retain bits and pieces of this and that, and you get no real education on anything. But that’s okay with your lazy brain, too.

 

School children assume they can concentrate with music blaring their ears from an iPod or their cell phone. Total silence is “disturbing” to them simply because they’ve never experienced it before. They can’t imagine being detached from their beloved music or cell phone.

 

Technology is now a part of your every minute of every day. Your phone pings every few minutes with a text message. If you don’t stop what you’re doing and turn all your attention to the phone, it pings again. The television screen has little ads and messages popping up in the corners while you’re trying to watch a show. If you go to a website, there are ads for things you recently bought flashing on and off the screen to entice you to buy more of them.

 

Your lazy brain just can’t take all the stimulation, distraction, and action. So, it just turns off. The technology has really replaced the human brain. Most people don’t even bother trying to use their brain anymore. It’s been edged out by all the computers and technology.

 

I guess you could say that technological gadgets are brain hatchets! So, think twice before using these technological gadgets rather than your own brain.

 

But, what am I thinking? Your lazy brain doesn’t even want to think once! It definitely isn’t going to voluntarily think twice!

 

Like I said, technological gadgets are brain hatchets.