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Kieran Bautista Professor Susan Lago English 1100-27 20 October 2013 Untitled What would it look like if scientists tried to map out the mind of humans? If they took my mind for example, it would be very cluttered and dispersed because during that time, my brain thought about several things. For instance, the essay assignment, midterms, hunger, or the next episode of Once Upon A Time. Ever since the invention and expansion of digital devices, peoples brains have been very distracted, unable to retain memory, and also involved humans to multi-task, allowing humans to become more incorporated with the digital world. I remember when I would complain to father about my current dilemma and as a result, he would tell me about the olden days. He would talk about how he would walk for hours just to go to school, or how he would work for days just to buy rice for the family, or even how he would do his math homework without a calculator. Unlike the previous eras, this generation has been very dependent on technology that it started to rewire the brain to become more like a computer. I did not notice how inattentive I was while writing this essay. I observed that in the duration of my essay writing I was surrounded my multiple screens, from my laptop, to my cellphone, tablet, iPod, and finally my TV. There is a total of five screens that I constantly glance at when I get the chance. After being exposed with technology, I have been very distracted from my obligations, therefore instead of studying for midterms, writing papers, or even getting enough sleep, I would chose to watch television. Instead of helping people focus on their work, technology diverts peoples concentration. Carr mentions, in The Shallows, the internets

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paradox which is the Net seizes our attention only to scatter it (169). Dissimilar with my fathers experience, peoples today have more things to think about, such as multiple social networks, school works, outfits, the latest trend, new episodes, or who got eliminated in the Voice. These problems mostly occur as time progresses and while the world is becoming more technology integrated. I remember in the Philippines when I was a middle school student instead of upgrading my Friendster, I was outside, being active and focused more on my school work, because there was nothing else to do. Today the world has presented humans with far more distractions than [their] ancestors ever had to contend with (Carr 170). However, the experiment did not only emphasize on human distractedness, but also the evolution of brains memory capacity. Post-internet, people had to memorize a lot of facts, especially college students. In the Philippines, when reaching first grade we were required to memorize the multiplication table, the square roots until thirty, and learned how to use the abacus. I remember when we got an answer wrong we would have to do squats, or some places even punish children for saying the incorrect answer. Students were also not allowed to use calculator until they reached high school, however nowadays, I see second graders using calculators just figure out a simple multiplication question. It is because of the humans cognitive load, that when [it] exceeds [the] minds ability to store and process information [The brain becomes] unable to retain the information or draw connection with the information already stored in [the] long-term memory of humans (Carr 179). If humans become more deficit of having longstanding memory, people would have difficulties in developing an understanding of a subject or a concept (Carr 180). Instead of digging inside the brain wrinkles, people just tend to hover a subject thus not being able to understand the material deeply. I recognize that whenever I would drift away from the essay, it

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takes me a few minutes to re-read the essay, re-organize my thoughts, and gather information all over again. It is due to the fact that my brain is unable to perceive knowledge genuinely. Nonetheless due to technology, I was also able to become a multi-tasker. After being exposed to the digital world for a long time, the computerized reasoning becomes natural to humans. Given [the] brains plasticity, [humans] know that [the] online habits continue to reverberate in the workings of [the] synapses when [people are] not online (Carr 203). People started to multitask, from walking while chewing gum to texting while driving. Humans have adapted ways from technology into their daily lives. Before, I thought that if I do everything at once, maybe I can finish early. However I learned that multitasking does not help you finish earlier, but it does the exact opposite. Instead of taking three hours to write my rough draft, it took me the whole day because I tried to multitask. Instead of operating many things simultaneously, humans should start using the functions that help [people] speedily locate, categorize, and assess disparate bits of information in a variety of forms, that let [people] maintain [the] mental bearings while being bombarded by stimuli (Carr 204).

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Works Cited Carr, Nicholas G. "The Juggler's Brain." The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 164-205. Print. Surowiecki, James. "James Surowiecki: The Power and the Danger of Online Crowds." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Ted Conferences, Feb. 2005. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/james_surowiecki_on_the_turning_point_for_social_media.ht ml>.