Rot away: the age of mindflare

Your brain is being rewired and recircuited. Here’s how your modern tech habits will mold your cognitive capacity.

I remember a few years ago being ridiculed by a friend for how I used Google Maps as we navigated back to a hostel in Ho Chi Minh.

I kept my phone in my hand, and my friend asked why I didn’t just study the map, put the phone in my pocket, and be sure to enjoy the view on the way. Plus, we could interact with each other. Plus, it’s okay to make errors. Plus, my phone wouldn’t get stolen.

I felt like I was at a crossroads here with my spatial awareness. Was there a right and wrong way of doing things? I was always bad at navigation anyway.

Technology is becoming as integral to human life as basic survival instincts. It’s no longer classed as just a tool but also shapes how we think, feel, and remember.

Right now, I remember the blue man on Google Maps ping-ponging around on my device due to limited GPS on a trip to Venice, more than Venice itself.

Some neuroscientists have confirmed that heavily relying on GPS affects our sense of direction, reducing our reliance on spatial memory. This is because the brain's storage area, the hippocampus, is rewired, and its function changes somewhat as a result.

The price of convenience

With this constant connectivity, are we on the brink of a new stage of cognitive evolution?

To answer this question, we sounded out an expert on the topic: "Tech is both a tool and a mirror – it enhances our cognitive capabilities while exposing our vulnerabilities,” says Brian Bovee, Associate Professor and Director of IT Programs at California Baptist University.

Because tools are what set humans apart from other species, our brains would be able to adapt to certain tasks. If we hadn’t invented the rolling pin, we wouldn’t have found a way to roll out the dough and defend ourselves from unwanted intruders.

When it comes to news, my grandfather still reads the newspaper. He reads it every morning and wants to have a discussion later about what he has read.

Just two or three generations down, habits are very different. When watching a movie with my family, everyone’s scrolling their phones. Some are on TikTok, others on Instagram, and some on Pinterest.

Everyone is alone together, consuming fragmented snippets of info, not even with a conducive plan to implement anything concrete. We’ve all heard of neuroplasticity, but what does it actually mean?

"The more we interact with fragmented digital stimuli, the more our brains prioritize fast, shallow processing over deep, reflective thought,” Bovee explains.

This is reflected in things like the good old family dinner. Family members checking their phone mid-conversation intermittently. I’m not one to chastise other generations – I’m more curious about where we’re headed cognitively.

Caught in the cognitive crossfire

I’ve personally noticed that other neurological changes happen when I travel. Sometimes, I’m at odds about whether I should mute my phone or scroll a bit when I go hiking. That whole dependency on tech makes it hard to truly “go on a digital detox.” Alone with a Rubik’s cube? I have some reservations.

Perhaps it’s not a question of completing puzzles manually but more about survival skills:

Historically, humans evolved to navigate the world through sustained attention – tracking prey, interpreting stories, engaging in long-form communication. But today, our digital environment encourages rapid task-switching, shortening our attention spans.

Bovee explained to Cybernews.

It can sometimes have an overwhelming impact on the brain. Think of the workplace: Zoom meetings, Slack messages, emails, browsing X, scrolling Instagram on your bathroom break, calling your partner hands-free on your commute home, and then asking AI what to cook for dinner – it’s a frenzy.

The constant barrage of information that we experience influences our attention span. “Continuous partial attention” is where we’re at, and as Bovee testifies:

"Cognitive overload keeps our brains in a constant state of ‘cognitive triage,’ where we filter, react, and discard rather than deeply process.”

This is associated with fuzzy-trace theory – the idea that we can have gist memory or verbatim – the former is a bottom-line type of memory where we subconsciously embellish particular details and the latter is precise recall.

We have become skimmers instead of deep investigators. That means we might remember the general vibe we felt when watching Parasite, but to recall plot-specifics might be quite challenging.

Sharper minds, fading patience

Tech from birth reconstructs our decision making also, so that future generations will have increased pattern recognition abilities, which has been harnessed from gaming and bottomless scrolling.

Pattern recognition would come in really handy when spotting trends and anomalies, quicker data processing, and a heightened visual-spatial awareness.

These skills would be useful in fields like cybersecurity, finance and trading, and medical diagnostics. Perhaps these generations won’t see things as black and white and all or nothing as older generations do and be able to work alongside AI without a problem.

When looking up the drawbacks, it becomes clear that decreased patience, weaker memory retention, and lower emotional intelligence in relation to social cues – such as subtle facial movements and conversational pacing – are among the hindrances. Better at algorithmic tasks and worse at making aimless small talk.

Long-term tasks like reading books and being in tune with delayed gratification may be challenging, too. Delayed gratification is resisting immediate temptation for a later reward. To be left alone with one marshmallow, but if you wait until I return, I’ll give you two. Which would you choose?

Fast feels, slow minds

Overuse of tech causes dopamine regulation hardships. The ping of an instant message, the need for gamification in tasks, fitbit achievement badges, dating apps working like slot machines, crypto trading, and 24-hour online shops on Amazon and TikTok cause this feel-good validation type behavior.

This is fast and shallow consumption. Boredom is not a luxury, as the elder generations saw it. In fact, baseline anxiety is lowered considerably. Tech is then an addiction that might mean:

Friend 1: "I totally forgot to buy groceries."

Friend 2 (sarcastically): "Oh, that’s surprising. I thought you were super organized."

Misreading it: Friend 1: "I know, right? It’s crazy how organized I usually am!"

Previously referred to as brainrot, as was Oxford's word of the year for 2024. The term is often glorified and highly identified with.

Deliberate tech habits like digital minimalism are not to be undervalued. It’s not as if we’re collectively all going to be gamifying life but embracing more mindful, intentional approaches to tech use could help us maintain balance in an increasingly fragmented digital world.