As you're buying holiday presents, think about this. Internet multi-tasking is both a magnificent research tool and an infuriating distraction. Neuroscientists are sure that it's transforming the human brain. What they're not sure about is whether the change is for better or worse. Critics insist it's reducing the ability to focus, enforcing shallowness, stifling the creative impulse and breaking connections between human beings. Advocates say the media revolution is producing new ways of thinking and more human connectedness than ever before. In this rebroadcast of a program originally aired in June of this year, we hear both sides.
Hooked on Gadgets, Muddling Our Minds?
Credits
Guests:
- Matt Richtel - Technology Reporter, New York Times - @mrichtel
- James Olds - Professor of Neuroscience, George Mason University
- William Powers - author, 'Hamlet's BlackBerry'
- Clay Shirky - New York University
- Andrew Blum - author of “The Weather Machine” and “Tubes” - @ajblum