WhytextingharmsyourIQ

Theregularuseoftextmessagesande-mailscanlowertheIQmorethantwiceasmuchassmokingmarijuana(大麻).Thatisthestatementofresearcherswhohavefoundthattappingawayonamobilephoneorcomputerkeypadorcheckingforelectronicmessagestemporarilyknocksupto10pointsofftheuser’sIQ.Thisrateofdeclineinintelligencecomparesunfavorablywiththefour-pointdropinIQassociatedwithsmokingmarijuanaaccordingtoBritishresearcherswhohavedescribedthephenomenonofimprovedstupidityas“infomania”.TheresearchconductedbyHewlettPackardthetechnologycompanyhasconcludedthatitismainlyaproblemforadultworkersespeciallymen.

Itisconcludedthattoomuchuseofmoderntechnologycandamageaperson’smind.Itcancauseaconstantdistractionof“alwayson”technologywhenemployeesshouldbeconcentratingonwhattheyarepaidtodo.Infomaniameansthattheyloseconcentrationastheirmindsremainfixedinanalmostpermanentstateofreadinesstoreacttotechnologyinsteadoffocusingonthetaskinhand.Thereportalsoaddedthatinalongtermthebrainwillbeconsiderablyshapedbywhatwedotoitandbytheexperienceofdailylife.Atamicrocellularlevelthecomplexnetworksofnervecellsthatmakeuppartsofthebrainactuallychangeinresponsetocertainexperiences.

Toomuchuseofmoderntechnologycanbedamagingnotonlytoaperson’smindbuttotheirsocialrelationship.1100adultswereinterviewedduringtheresearch.Morethan62percentofthemadmittedthattheywereaddictedtocheckingtheire-mailsandtextmessagessooftenthattheyscrutinizedwork-relatedonesevenwhenathomeoronholiday.Halfsaidthattheyalwaysrespondedimmediatelytoanemailandwilleveninterruptameetingtodoso.Itisconcludedthatinfomaniaisincreasingstressandanxietyandaffectingone’scharacteristics.Nineoutoftenthoughtthatcolleagueswhoanswerede-mailsormessagesduringaface-to-facemeetingwereextremelyrude.

TheeffectsonIQwerestudiedbyDrGlennWilsonapsychologistatUniversityofLondon.“Thisisaveryrealandwidespreadphenomenon”hesaid.“Wehavefoundthatinfomaniawilldamageaworker’sperformancebyreducingtheirmentalsharpnessandchangingtheirsociallife.Compani