'Is Marijuana Less Dangerous than Email ?'

[villager]

Researchers at the University of London Institute of Psychiatry recently released a report showing that workers bombarded with phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss in IQ than marijuana users.

Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King College London University, and his team of researchers monitored the IQ of 80 volunteers while they performed problem-solving tasks, first in a quiet environment and then while being distracted with e-mails and phone calls. The study found that people balancing a steady inflow of messages while attempting to work experienced a 10-point decrease in IQ ,� more than double the four-point drop caused by smoking marijuana.

The most damage was done, according to the survey, by the almost complete lack of discipline in handling emails. Dr Wilson and his colleagues found a compulsion to reply to each new message, leading to constant changes of direction which inevitably tired and slowed down the brain.

Christopher Kimble, from the University of York, UK, adds that the quality of information contained in communications can also be a major problem for workers. His own research, carried out within a large multinational company, shows that key employees, such as secretaries and IT support staff, can be particularly affected by misleading or incomplete emails. These increase the time required to complete the task, when a short phone conversation would have been much more efficient.

Wilson's research is no flash in the pan. Computer technology in its modern, interconnected form is dumbing down the population more rapidly than television. A study of 100,000 school children in over 30 countries around the world testified that non-computer using kids performed better in literacy and numeracy schools than PC-using children. Education experts have dubbed it the "problem solving deficit disorder".

http://www.techdo.com/marijuana-is-less-dangerous-than-email/

[vixengrl]

1. The bitch of it all is, I get all this junk e-mail for *free*but....

Sorry, I joke. But I really do feel like the "too-muchness" of e-mails and phone calls (I actually work in a telephone call center) and the demands of multi-tasking really can make a person distracted and stressed: it's bound to affect performance. It's quite possible. (Also, relaxation is supposed to be good for the mind.)

[villager]

2. but, you know, if they let us relax and our minds get healthy, well,

we might not start putting up with as much shit, and you can't have that....

[vixengrl]

5. Wow--healthy human animals strong enough to break out of our pens--

or cubicles, as the case may be--whether at work or home. Yes, potentially dangerous. (Probably evolutionarily desireable. Because then we could focus on important things nearer to home, and not just regarding "work, sleep, eat, screw, die." And there would be growth, art, political movements, and an uptick in purchases of gourmet snack foods. But this is only a personal theory I have.)

[f the letter]

3. Not shocking. Cool study!

Hope people read it between killing brain cells with their heavy email habit

[sharesunited]

4. I get an intellect boost from both.

Recommend both as a lifestyle to claim.