Page 104 - Fear Unmasked Flipbook

FEAR UNMA S KED

differ from ours. Deep down, we know there are a
thousand better ways to spend our time than scrolling
through Instagram without thinking. If we’re honest
with ourselves, we understand that perhaps reading
280 characters at a time on Twitter isn’t the best way
to understand complex issues. Solving these social
media issues are simple, but do we really understand
the deeper negative repercussions this can have on

our lives?
How many people have you met who are proactively
trying to become dumb? Seriously ask yourself: is
there anyone you know that is legitimately working to
lower their intelligence, memory, and overall mental
cognition? At first thought, this question obviously
seems absurd. With the advent of cognitive training

apps such as Lumosity and Elevate, we would likely
think that generally speaking people are trying to
become more informed and intelligent. Unfortunately,
through the abundant use of social media on our smart
phones, we are becoming dumber.
According to Dr. Ron Friedman, social psychologist
and contributor to Psychology Today magazine who
specializes in human motivation, studies show that the
“mere presence of a cell phone—even when it’s not being

used—influences people’s performance on complex
mental tasks.” The study asked its participants to
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quickly identify two numbers in a row of digits that

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