With increasing frequency, I hear people joking about having ADD, or using it as an excuse for forgetting to call someone back or showing up late to an event late. There is obviously some truth to the-is idea of being distracted. Entrepreneurs continue to build platforms like Twitter and people continue to sign up. A friend of mine started the now famous online retail site, Gilt Groupe, which has transformed women into maniacal shoppers from about 11:58am - 12:15pm. As we begin to better understand the commonalities in the brain, we also become much better at inserting ourselves, our product or technology into the user's life.
Today's New York Times did a story on how we difficult it is to process multiple inputs. The bright and flashy tend to grab your attention more quickly that the static and plain. (Guess we now know why advertising works). “It takes a lot of your prefrontal brain power to force yourself not to process a strong input like a television commercial,” said Dr. Desimone, the director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at M.I.T. “If you’re trying to read a book at the same time, you may not have the resources left to focus on the words.”
What is so interesting to me is the duality of this race for the brain. As part of society races to create the newest best app for the iPhone, another group, is racing to find ways to deal with the added clutter.
The New Yorker recently published a story called "Cosmetic Neurology," which examines the growing trend of healthy people, not diagnosed with any mental condition, taking drugs that enhance mental functioning, including Adderall and Provigil. While much of the New Yorker story deals with the ethical implications of manipulating neurotransmitters, I'm more curious about neural plasticity and how taking a particular drug to ween you off of your Facebook addiction so to finish a work presentation will influence cognitive skills. Will the practice of focusing enabled by pharmaceuticals help the brain to learn how to filter out distractions without the chemicals present? Probably. It is like drinking a coffee before going to the gym - there is no muscular penalty for having extra energy. Makes me wonder what is the equivalent of yellow teeth for the brain?
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