mutating computer society

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Ever since msn.com had a link to the article written about the study done that examined the brains' of long-term computer users, I book marked it for one, but also I know that it has inspired me to wonder how society is changing.

Our society is becoming more digitalized. And the internet is like the new reality. Its a new reality that is changing us but in what ways?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3262597 ... ction.html

The internet can also cause us to be addicted (Not physically dependent but seems to have real power over many) to our lives inside this new digital reality both online and even offline such as when you play a video game("video game addiction"). But perhaps this will have some beneficial reason behind it.

Perhaps this is favorable. I don't really know for sure. There are many things that I question about this, though.

Is it creating selfish behaviors / cyber bullying etc? (myspace.com, facebook, etc)
Is the data online over-loading our memories or will it?
Can a computer give us a false sense of reality of who we are or will it soon?
Do we spend more time doing personal things on the computer / online then with school work or our other "responsibilities"?
Does amazon.com etc. influence us to over-spend?

And then there are the benefits, I think.

* Expanded resources for finding information, contacting others, and consumerism
* Easier to find like-minded others / friend or a girlfriend/boyfriend
* Escape from ordinary hectic life and escape from personal problems in ordinary life
* Escape from real world and into a more anarchist type of world >computer hacking or computer virus making etc

The truth is the real world sucks, between school, work and bills, people are checking out into all sorts of distractions. It's more like people are stuff addicts, which leaves less time for relationships between people. Less time = less depth.

Thankyou for the link, what interesting questions. Without the internet I would not have been able to research autism, or find other people who I am compatible with. Communication via the internet is more meaningful than anything I have ever managed to establish in 'real life'. It is not a substitute, it is the best way I can exist within the limitations of my abilities. In fact, online, I have no limitations at all.

I really do not believe this, surely it is an increase in the awareness of the autism and adhd that helps more individuals be diagnosed, not an actual increase in the conditions?
Discard my previous comment, perhaps the nerdier variety of Aspergers will flourish (myself included).

This is so true!

lol ya, I was kind of wondering about that too: will the nerdier variety of aspergers flourish? I'd say likely but things are still in its infancy between "us and them". Sometimes, myspace and facebook look so cluttered and dominated by party-like life-styles (porn, "adolescent music", gossip, consumerism of "friends", celebrity type of behaviors) If its just adolescent behavior then it is but it still bugs me a little: first "they" goof around at school then "they" start going online and think that they are some type of celebrity or something. But nobody says that the internet social networking is for a party-like life-style.

And people like me sometimes think that it is kind of awkward to try to find an aspect of our lives online.

I think that the "online world" which is still evolving can make certain individuals feel like it distorts reality but not too much. And its like, well, when myspace was beginning to become more popular, I didn't know about it until much later and didn't really understand what to do with it. But I like coming here and typing some text. I don't really care for a bunch of graphics and media stuff.

And, speaking of our changing society, with those game consoles becoming so much more advanced like the playstation 3 and X-box, I'd say that in the next few years, perhaps, the corporate research people / inventors will be working on some kind of virtual reality game console. The "computer scientists" etc are trying to find ways to integrate new componants into a computer already such as the componant called "memristor".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor
Here is the link at the bottom of that page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_em ... chnologies

Here's another link I found: (I used key words on google such as "the next step in brain evolution")

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... t=0&page=1

Also, when I went to the book section at an albertsons grocery store, I found the new Dune novel, I looked up Dune because I never read it before but was still interested in it and found a whole other list of books through the "related" book lists and found a book called "neuromancer". This book has many interesting pardigms and ideas involved with a very high tech and digitalized society.