Twitter et al may 'drain brain'

[Bosonic]

Human minds evolved to constantly scan for novelty, lest we miss any sign of food, danger or, on a good day, mating opportunities.

But the modern world bombards us with stimuli, a nonstop stream of e-mails, chats, texts, tweets, status updates and video links to piano playing cats.

There's growing concern among scientists that indulging in these ceaseless disruptions isn't good for our brains, in much the way that excessive sugar or fat - other things we evolved to crave when they were in shorter supply - isn't good for our bodies.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/17/BUTO1J0S2P.DTL

[Modern_Matthew]

1. Technophobia: Coming soon to media outlets near you. nt

[Shandris]

4. The word you're looking for is technoSHOCK. (n/t)

[villager]

2. Hmm. And I guess we need to talk about relentless chat board posting, too...

speaking for myself, at least... ;-)

[calimary]

3. At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, it's sure wreaking hell on the ability to spell.

That grammar thing is out the window and into the next country by now.

I may be old-fashioned, but I actually do worry about that. Nobody knows how to spell or punctuate anymore, everything's shorthand. You say "2" for "to" or "too" (and NOBODY seems to know or care that there's a difference between "to" and "too") and "ur" for "your" and so forth. Yes I realize there are time and space constraints to deal with in the new communication modes and everything has to fit in 140 characters, or sometimes less. But there is still a need to represent oneself well on paper (well, in writing).

I got an email from a kid who'd been a classmate of my son's. He's now hoping to develop into a video director. He's 18 and out on his own and trying to work it. He sent me an email about a music video project on which he and my son's band were working. I read it (or tried to) and I was UTTERLY HORRIFIED!!! It looked like it had been written by someone who was brain-damaged! And this kid ISN'T! It was a MESS. Letters and numbers jumbled midword, word spacing nonexistent, spelling - WHAT spelling? Punctuation - WHAT punctuation? Capitalization? Never heard of it. Syntax? Huh?

O.M.G. And this kid wants to be in business? He wants to be regarded as an active, credible professional in the business world? Sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! How's he EVER going to be taken seriously as a professional, himself? Who's ever gonna want even to try struggling through one of those emails? Hell, I damn near needed a frickin' translator! Nobody'd even bother. They'd take one look at this meandering block of barely-comprehensible, disjointed, all-lower-case text, and they'd probably just say "the hell with this" and hit the delete button. It'd take far too much time out of their business day just trying to wade through and decipher the first line. WHERE were his parents? WHERE were his teachers (besides giving up on him in class, and just passing him to the next class because they'd thrown up their hands trying to teach him or even reach him)? He was pretty hyperactive and disruptive in class, and very frustrating to deal with. I spent many years as either a room mother or room mother's assistant and I saw plenty of this. Trying to get him to pay attention in Cub Scout meetings (and I was the Den Mother's assistant so I was there all the time) was a nightmare. And he was always the kid you had to watch out of the corner of your eye when he came over. If you didn't, he'd be in your kid's room, sneaking around, filling his own pockets and backpack with your kid's stuff.

I may be old-fashioned, but I still think these things count. As the manager of the band, and a writer and former broadcaster, I still think this stuff is important. You still have to be able to write a coherent business letter or pitch letter or something - unless/until you're successful enough that you can hire a secretary to write your business emails and letters and presentations for you. And I do wonder about the whole Twitter communications template having something of a crippling effect. Some people may not be able to separate that form of communication from the conventional way, or perhaps they may think they simply don't have to anymore - because the conventional way has become irrelevant.

Then again, maybe it's just me getting older and more out-of-it.

[kentauros]

5. I shorten words in text, but not email.

They really are different modes of communication. You go ahead and send ten txts instead of three by not shortening some words. Remember, too, that some of your recipients pay more for more txts received. Oh, and I'm not a kid, either. I turned 50 last month ;)

You will likely be as appalled as I when I read this post to Not Always Right:
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part 10 :o

Oh, and this on "proffredding":
"The The Impotence of Proofreading," by TAYLOR MALI

[calimary]

6. Btw - kentauros, I am DYING with laughter over your Eddie Izzard quote!

I think my favorite is "Klingybun Fistelvase"!

I had a HUGE laugh over it!


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:



The best we could ever do was Engeldinck Humperbert. These are MUCH better!




:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. I'm in complete awe of anyone who could transcribe that. And I don't mean awe as in hot dog BTW. nt

[kentauros]

12. You'll have to be in awe of some other Eddie Izzard fan then,

because I just got it from his website, Cake or Death :D

"Fan stuff" across the top, drops down to "fun stuff" and then a flyout to "transcripts" and my sigline is from "Dress to Kill" :)

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. Heehee, Cake or Death, I mean what else could one call a site about Mr Izzard

if not that.
"But we live here!"
"Well, do you have a flag?"

[kentauros]

11. Yeah, that's one of my favorite quotes of his.

That and the one about colonizing other countries with the cunning use of flags! "Do you have a flag?" :rofl:
Or, "Hitler never played Risk as a kid!" :rofl:

You know, there used to be a DU member by the name of Slut Bunwalla, but I haven't seen any posts from them lately.

[Odin2005]

7. They said the same thing about video games 20 years ago. It's bullshit.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. I sure hope Palin cuts down. because we sure as hell need her intellect intact.

:rofl:

[Avalux]

9. Moderation. Whether it's food, drink, drugs, twitter, whatever.

I firmly believe denial of 'fun' things is bad for the brain, we need these things to be happy but in moderation; know when to stop. Easier for some than others though.

[pipi_k]

14. I wonder why they always try to lump people into one category...

No doubt there are some out there who actually thrive on the constant stimuli. I know quite a few people like that.

Then there are some who can handle it in small doses with mental/physical rest periods in between.

Then there are those who can't tolerate any of it.


I would imagine that each category must know what its limits are, and act accordingly.


Sort of the same way a city lover would be bored to death living in the country, and that's why he lives in a huge, noisy city.

And a country lover would go insane from the noise and hustle and bustle of the city, so he lives in the country.