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Comment by strict9 | Hacker News Reader

Not that my brain has completely gone downhill — I’m still smart and feel motivated, but I have noticed my concentration and memory are not what they used to be.

It’s because technology is harming our brains.

I sympathize with the author and feel this to an extent, but maybe this has more to do with aging than it does using apps and addictive social media. Memorization is a lot easier when you're young versus when you're older.

Though I'm sure it does play a part--spending most of your time on social media leads to not using some parts of your brain. You've got to use it to keep it working properly, just like muscle.

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Numerous studies suggest that excessive social media usage can negatively affect cognitive abilities, memory retention, and sustained focus.

The internet or modern technology is not only social media...

Its like saying a books are only cheesy romantic 5 penny books...

it's not really about the content, but about the medium. A book, whatever its content is relaxing to read & interact with

What? This is the dumbest thing I have read on HN in a while.

Do you want me really to write down some books were you should not be relaxed?

I would start with It. There's nothing quite as relaxing as a horror novel about a shapeshifting space clown murdering children.

But a book like that is something that you sink into, the author draws you into their fictional world, over a period of hours.

That's quite different that 45 seconds of outrage the on to the next click-bait, isn't it?

The attention span required seems quite different between the two. I assume that's why people are concerned that things like social networks may be detrimental to focused thinking.

EDIT: I agree that a book like "It", full of suspense, would not ordinarily be considered relaxing to read.

this other comment is same as mine https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38507780, you're also reacting like someone over-technologized

Did you read the article? Nowhere did I say that, but I called out social media because the article focuses on social media, and mentions it as being problematic multiple times.

The ‘mild cognitive impairment’ now being observed in younger generations may manifest in, among other things, not reading articles and books because they require a longer attention span and it feels too burdensome compared to reading and writing 1-2 sentence blurbs on social media...

I think maybe the author has a point. It does seem like the quantity of people are suffering from memory issues has increased lately.

If we're speaking very recently, some of this may be due to the covid isolation.

Chronic stress, reduced physical activity and subclinical depression is quite the cocktail for attention and memory difficulties.

Don’t forget the virus itself. It is not gentle on the neurons.

Chronic stress, reduced physical activity is quite related to technologies too

It could be a combination of stress and lack of sleep, which of course in turn, could be caused by technological factors for example.

Then sometimes I have to wonder though, do we have realistic expectations on memory? There's just so many systems (at work) and so much stuff, maybe we're overloading ourselves past realistic expectations?

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