Social media is the buzzword these days. Everywhere you look, social media is what people are talking about. Even a short look at job boards will likely show you entities looking for a social media expert. The average person spends considerable amounts of time on various social media platforms. There is even the notion that there are people addicted to social media.
It is thus not surprising that someone came up with the question: Is social media ruining our minds?
Obviously, the answer (or answers) to this question cannot be a simple one. Assisted Living Today ((Assisted Living Today)) has created an infographic summing up how social media may be messing with the human mind.
For example, social media drastically affects the following areas of our lives:
- Multitasking skills
- Social interactions
- Ability to focus
To that, I say, thanks Captain Obvious.
There are some pretty interesting numbers presented in the infographic about the effect of social media on our minds, though.
- The average attention span is 5 seconds. I guess I’ve lost you by now! Oh, and in case you think that age is to blame, studies have shown that younger people have shorter attention spans than the elderly. Go figure!
- 25% of people forget details – and even names – of close friends and relatives. This brings to mind how I used to memorize my friends’ phone numbers and birthdays. When I started using a mobile phone heavily many, many years ago, that all went out the window.
- The average office worker checks email 30-40 times an hour. How many times do you check your email? I know I check mine A LOT, but I am not sure I do it that many times. Maybe I ought to observe this…
In any case, the point of the infographic is that social media affects how our brains evolve. Reading snippets and devouring content via video – negative results as compared to reading the long form. Studies also show that those who do not spend too much time online use their decision-making and problem-solving areas of the brain more.
The bottom line? Yeah, spending too much time on social media platforms might be making you dumber. Here’s the infographic. Make sure you share it on Twitter and Facebook, yes? 🙂
Via MediaBistro