Does the internet fool us?

Much is said about the possible destructive effects of the Internet on the brain. In 2009, in the British House of Lords Susan Grenfield spread her disturbing visions:

“I suggest that social networks can affect the basic structure of the brain, thus providing a feeling of pleasure. Consequently, the twenty-first century mind can become doting, focused on short impressions, not able to focus, feel empathy and having shaky identity. „

Her claims were not based on any research, but on hunches. One of the public responses were the words from Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester.

“Everything you do changes your brain. When writing was invented, it also highly modified the way we think, and even changed how we perceive the world.”

This is still repeated in the history of civilization story - every invention arises anxiety. The wider its application, the anxiety reaches a higher intensity.

As for Bavelier’s words, since few years scientists more and more closely look at how our brain works. In this way they discovered that it is not a static, unchanging creation. On the contrary, it is a very flexible tool that constantly reorganizes, adjusting to the outside world. Interestingly, the plasticity of this feature turns out to be changing with age - adult mind is also very “shape-changing”.