technology makes us dumb??

Alarming Effect E-Mail Has on Your Brain
A british study by TNS Research commissioned by Hewlett Packard concludes that workers who are distracted by frequent phone calls, e-mails, and text messages actually suffer a greater loss of IQ than someone who smokes marijuana, report The Guardian and UK's Press Association.

The problem isn't the e-mail itself. The problem is the constant interruptions in your work day that reduce productivity and leave you feeling tired, lethargic, and unable to focus.

In 80 clinical trials, the IQ of 1,100 British workers was monitored throughout the day by Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College in London. What he found is that when people tried to juggle e-mail, phone calls, and text messages along with their work, their IQs dropped by a full 10 points. That's the equivalent of missing an entire night's sleep and more than the four-point decline seen after someone smokes pot. "This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson told The Guardian. "We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness. Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working."

The Guardian describes it like this: "E-mails in particular have an addictive, drug-like grip." A big part of the problem is what Wilson calls an almost complete lack of discipline in handing e-mail. Most of us feel compelled to reply to each new message, and this leads to a relentless change in our mental direction.

Fun facts about how we use e-mail:
--Fully two-thirds of workers check their e-mail when they aren't working, including on vacation.
--50 percent respond to an e-mail within an hour of receiving it.
--20 percent will interrupt a business or social engagement to respond to an e-mail.
--90 percent said anyone who answers e-mail during face-to-face meetings is rude, but 30 percent admitted it's a sign of diligence and efficiency.

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so, after reading the article... tell me if you agree or not... or at least what you think...

1. the more advance the technology is, the dumber we become... the study proved it, right? ehehehe... but that's kinda true tho... think about how many phone #s of your friends that you can remember on top of your head right now. it's amazing if you can remember more than 10 #s. i know some people who can't even remember their own cell phone number... :D i have no idea which category they fit in :D back when there was no cellphones or PDAs, our brain was more trained to remember lots of things... i had friends who could remember SO MANY people's phone #s, we called them the walking phone book. now? everything is already speed dialed :) perhaps i should find my old friends 'n do some tests if they still have their old brain. so in a way, i kinda have to agree w/ the study :D unfortunately...

2. i never smoke before... BUT apparently, it's still better to smoke pot than being distracted by those high tech products :D so... should i give it a shot sometime??? hahahaha

3. it's amazing... how people's dependency towards electricity and high tech these days is so much greater than 20 years ago. many people seem lost and become agitated when there's a black out or their computer catches some virus or their internet connection is not working.

4. now a dilemma emerges... we don't wanna be dumb, but we can't ignore those calls, emails or text messages either... what should we do? uhmm.... let's hire a secretary... hehehe... we make other people dumb instead of ourselves... j/k :D