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iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind | 
| Authors: Gary Small, Gigi Vorgan
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.79
as of 11/23/2009 06:40 CST details
You Save: $7.20 (42%)
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Seller: indoobestsellers
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 72779
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0061340340
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.820285
EAN: 9780061340345
ASIN: 0061340340
Publication Date: October 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Shaped by the era of Google and limitless access to news and information, the brains of your coworkers, your children, and your competition are remapping, retooling, and evolving. Are you keeping up? Dr. Gary Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists and experts on brain function and behavior, explores how technology's unstoppable march forward has altered the way young minds develop, function, and interpret information. iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price? iBrain can help us avoid the potential drawbacks—add, increased social isolation, Internet addiction, and so on—while offering the tools and strategies needed to bridge the brain gap, enabling us to compete and thrive in the age of high-tech immersion.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 Continuous Partial Attention October 25, 2009
Chris Gray (Colorado)
This is a fascinating, research based book for the first 100 pages before suddenly transforming into an "Idiot's Guide To..." type book for the last half. There are literally two different books under the cover here which led to me skimming the second half due to my own need to not know anymore about emoticons and how to effectively search the internet.
The author raises some very interesting points about how he and others believe there is an evolutionary change occurring in the brains of the young brought on by over-stimulation and exposure to massive amounts of fast paced information and technology. While I do not know if I agree with all of his findings (not that I have any proof to the contrary), but I have witnessed many times in my high school classroom the growing lack of empathy he says is becoming more and more prevalent in the young. He refers to this inability to read social cues in others as almost an Asperger's like condition. It is a fascinating thing to see (although probably more so from the outside looking in, than from the stand point of the teacher trying to maintain control...) the way a substantial number of kids cannot read emotions in their fellow classmates and adults. This incapacity ends up creating situations where they say vicious or inappropriate things that I do not think they would say if they knew how their words sounded or how inappropriate their statements were in the given situation.
I also found a new phrase that pretty much summed up a lot of my life in the book: Continuous Partial Attention. Coined by software executive Linda Stone to describe "the state where you are continually staying busy, keeping tabs on everything, while never really focusing on anything" (Page 18). Continuous Partial Attention Disorder is my new explanation for the years 1993-2004 if anyone asks what I was up to or accomplished.
 stressed? anxious? can't stop checking your e-mail? you may have techno brain burnout. April 21, 2009
Vita M. Haake (Austin, TX USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
iBrain, written by Dr. Gary Small - a neuroscientist and director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior - paints a picture of the complex human brain in words that are easy for those without a science background to understand. iBrain's main focus is to educate and caution readers about damage that frequent technology use can have on interpersonal skills - an area that Dr. Small posits is a strength that "digital immigrants" (those over age 30) have over "digital natives" (those under 30 who have been exposed to technology their entire lives.)
The book starts by explaining how the human brain develops at different stages of life - malleable in both children and adults, and at it's prime in middle age. Dr. Small cites several studies in both children and adults that tie frequent technology use to conditions such as ADD, ADHD, Autism, depression, anxiety, and even sociopathic behavior. Dr. Small cautions that the damage of frequent technology use is especially prevalent for children under eight years old. The news is not entirely dismal, however; he also cites studies that show strengths in cognitive abilities that can be attributed to searching the Internet and using similar technologies.
A recurring theme in iBrain is the issue of multitasking. Dr. Small attempts to prove that multitasking is not beneficial to productivity or attention levels. He explains that a condition called "continuous partial attention" is plaguing those that use the Internet frequently. This condition is described as "keeping tabs on everything but not really focusing on anything." This phenomena can also lead to "techno brain burnout," something that Dr. Small believes is threatening to become an epidemic if people don't become more aware of how frequent technology use can effect them.
After stating his case that technology use, particularly at addictive levels, is changing the way humans interact and empathize with each other, Dr. Small provides some self-help resources. He includes several short tests to determine strengths and weaknesses in brain function and interpersonal abilities along with exercises for improvement in these areas. He also provides helpful tips for technologies (such as e-mail and instant messaging) designed to help users be more considerate to others' feelings as well as reduce multitasking challenges. Appendices include text messaging shortcuts, common emoticons, resources for addiction, and technology toolkit resources varying from brain exercises to online file storage.
The book is helpful for both digital immigrants and digital natives, though it seems to paint digital natives in a negative light at times. Dr. Small does state that the collaborative nature of the Internet and its effect on specific parts of the brain has boosted opportunities for creative expression, something seen as a benefit to society. Most of the claims made in this book are based on small or limited studies and Dr. Small admits that research on this subject is only beginning. iBrain does a thorough job of outlining potential problems and provides many solutions to help prevent us from becoming antisocial, unfeeling humans riddled with anxiety and the inability to focus on tasks at hand.
Pretty much what I had expected December 21, 2008
Samuel Larsson (Sweden)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was curious when I first opened the book. I have just started an education within digital media and the subject was head on.
The book shows how our mind tries to coop up with the impressions we're feeding it with. If we're feeding it with a 24-7 computer screen and "multitasking" in the digtial field, we'll develop skills in the regions of our brain that are busy while doing this. But we don't have time for other practices so for example our face to face interaction will get understimulated. Especially if you're in an age when your brain grows alot, there is both good and bad with major iBrain impact that could effect you permanent.
I liked the book, but it felt kind of "pop-science" sometimes. I don't think many would agree that the human brain could evolve so much over just one generation (digitalnatives generation) that the book shows. But it was really intresting reading and gave me alot of stuff to work with when it comes to planning a workday in front of the computer without getting tired and zombielike 7 hrs later.
Read and discuss! But don't expect it to be course litterature in medicin.
 iBrain book review! November 27, 2008
Darin Waugh
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Our brains are an amazing force of nature, but until recently we haven't had a good understanding of how the way we live our lives affects the actual structure and function of our brains.
In "iBrain...Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vogan explore the fascinating subject of how modern digital technology affects our brains, especially the use of the computer and video games.
This book is important for many reasons, not only does it show how the structure and function of the brain is affected by the use of technology but it goes on to explain the health effects of the misuse of technology, and even the social, political, and economic impact of our high-tech culture.
As the book points out, the average young person is now exposed to eight hours a day of technology which can contribute to, "hyperactivity, inattention, depression, and multitasking mania," to name just a few.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons, especially because it just doesn't keep repeating the same themes without adding any new information, it truly does keep expanding on the subject material and encourages you look at how you and your family use technology. As the authors explain, we don't need to stop using the computer and other technological devices, "Instead we all should help our brains adapt and succeed in the ever accelerating technological environment."
The book is easy to read and is not just full of tech doom and gloom. It includes many suggestions on how we can help our brains by using both technology based programs and face to face social interaction. As the point is made, that as we become more "driven to distraction" by technology we don't want to become socially isolated from each other. This would not only be harmful to our brains but to society and our human nature as well.
I recently read an article about a restaurant that doesn't have any waiters, instead it uses a video screen built into the table in which you order your food (then the screen bothers you the whole time you eat asking if you want to play games). If this is where our society is heading than I classify iBrain as essential reading. It may just help us save our humanity.
Say you want an evolution? November 26, 2008
Wilma W. Dague (kansas)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Say you want an evolution?
iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan
Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan's iBrain is a fascinating book that details how technology is changing our brains. Their main thesis is that our brains and the brains of our children are much more plastic and changeable than we have been led to believe. They differentiate between digital immigrants: people who had to learn technology such as computers and cell phones as adults, and digital natives: people who have known technology since birth. The good news for middle-aged digital immigrants is that we have the advantage over older ones and the younger natives, because our brains are plastic enough to respond to and learn new technologies than older brains, but we retain the social skills that native sometimes lack.
My son has a mild form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome, so I panicked for a moment. Did I let him watch television too much when he was younger. Play on the computer? No and no-he wasn't interested thankfully. But he is now, and I was surprised to learn that digital natives suffer some of the same symptoms as autistic individuals: lack of eye contact; a just-the-facts approach to communication, and a lack of give-and-take in conversation. So now that he's a PSP fanatic, is my son's Asperger's getting worse? I don't think so. He has enough else going on. According to iBrain, that seems to be the key. All electronics and no face time, makes for digital natives that have poor social skills, so it is very important to reinforce human connection away from electronic devices. The warning against multitasking and how is can contribute to anxiety and attention deficit disorder symptoms seem particularly relevant today when so many of us have trouble paying attention.
The book provides many resources for understanding the best uses of technology determining whether or not technology is interfering with our lives. The questionnaires designed to locate the difficulties technology are followed by tangible exercises for improving our real world connections. The authors even include a glossary of technological terms, an especially-helpful list of emoticons and texting abbreviations, and a list of professional organizations that help with cyber addictions.
The message of iBrain is not that technology is good or bad, but that it is both. Electronic devices can change the structure of our brains and leave us disconnected and lonely, but they can also help us accomplish much in terms of work, economics and social connection. For the sake of our brains, however, we must walk the fine line of being able to use and learn how to use new technologies, without losing our essential humanity.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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