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| Why texting harms
your IQ | |
The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than
twice as much as smoking marijuana.
That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on
a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages
temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user's IQ.
This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavourably with the
four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to
British researchers, who have labelled the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced
stupidity as "infomania".
Research on sleep deprivation suggests that the IQ drop caused by
electronic obsession is also
equivalent to a wakeful night.
Infomania is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men, the
study commissioned by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has
concluded.
The noticeable drop in IQ is attributed to the constant distraction of
"always on" technology when employees should be concentrating on what they
are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their
minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to
technology instead of focusing on the task in hand.
The brain also finds it hard to cope with juggling lots of tasks at once, reducing its
overall effectiveness, the report added. And while modern technology can
have huge benefits, excessive use can be damaging not only to a person's
mind, but to their social life.
Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ deterioration and
1,100 adults were interviewed.
More than six in ten (62 per cent) of people polled admit that they
were addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages so assiduously that they scrutinized
work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they
always responded immediately to an email and one in five (21 per cent)
will interrupt a meeting to do so.
Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues,
increasing stress and dissenting feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought
that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face
meeting were extremely rude. Yet one in three Britons believes that it is
not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.
（Agencies) |
經常收發短信和電子郵件會降低你的IQ，損害程度甚至是吸食大麻對智力損害程度的兩倍多。
心理學家發現人們在使用手機或電腦鍵盤打字或者用它們查詢電子信息時，智力會暫時降低10個百分點。
英國研究人員稱，與吸食大麻相比，電子信息對智力的不利影響大的多。人在吸食大麻時智商會降低4個百分點。研究人員將這種暫時變笨的現象稱為“信息狂躁”。
關于剝奪睡眠的研究表明因為癡迷于電子產品而造成的智力衰退相當于一夜失眠。
惠普科技公司委托進行的研究結果表明，信息狂躁主要表現在成年人身上，尤其是成年男性。
造成這種智力明顯衰退的原因在于當員工們應該集中精力工作時，“無處不在”的科技卻總是不斷分散他們的注意力。信息狂躁是指他們的意識近乎一直處于一種隨時對“技術”做出反應的狀態，因而無法將注意力集中在手頭的工作上。
該報告還補充說大腦很難同時應付許多難題，其整體效率會降低。此外，雖然現代科技可以給予我們巨大的幫助，但過多地使用科技也會給人們的大腦和社會生活帶來危害。
80名志愿者參加了一個關于智力減退的臨床實驗，1100名成年人接受了采訪。
超過60%的被調查者（62%）承認他們對查閱電郵和短信上癮。他們說他們很頻繁地進行查閱，就算是在家和節假日也會仔細查看與工作有關的電郵和短信。其中有一半人說他們總是立刻就回電子郵件，五分之一（21%）的人說他們會為此打斷會議。
此外，信息狂躁對同事也有負面影響，增加他們的壓力和敵對情緒。90％的被調查者認為在面對面會議時回電子郵件是非常無禮的行為。但是三分之一的英國人不僅可以接受這種行為，而且覺得這樣做說明自己工作勤奮、高效。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-04-25 10:28
