We live in a world unimaginable only decades ago: a domain of backlit
screens, instant information, and vibrant experiences that can
outcompete dreary reality. Our brave new technologies offer incredible
opportunities for work and play. But at what price?
Now renowned neuroscientist Susan Greenfield--known in the United
Kingdom for challenging entrenched conventional views--brings together a
range of scientific studies, news events, and cultural criticism to
create an incisive snapshot of "the global now." Disputing the
assumption that our technologies are harmless tools, Greenfield explores
whether incessant exposure to social media sites, search engines, and
videogames is capable of rewiring our brains, and whether the minds of
people born before and after the advent of the Internet differ.
Stressing the impact on Digital Natives--those who've never known a
world without the Internet--Greenfield exposes how neuronal networking
may be affected by unprecedented bombardments of audiovisual stimuli,
how gaming can shape a chemical landscape in the brain similar to that
in gambling addicts, how surfing the Net risks placing a premium on
information rather than on deep knowledge and understanding, and how
excessive use of social networking sites limits the maturation of
empathy and identity.
But Mind Change also delves into the potential benefits of our digital
lifestyle. Sifting through the cocktail of not only threat but
opportunity these technologies afford, Greenfield explores how gaming
enhances vision and motor control, how touch tablets aid students with
developmental disabilities, and how political "clicktivism" foments
positive change.
In a world where adults spend ten hours a day online, and where tablets
are the common means by which children learn and play, Mind Change
reveals as never before the complex physiological, social, and cultural
ramifications of living in the digital age. A book that will be to the
Internet what An Inconvenient Truth was to global warming, Mind
Change is provocative, alarming, and a call to action to ensure a
future in which technology fosters--not frustrates--deep thinking,
creativity, and true fulfillment.
Praise for Mind Change
"Greenfield's application of the mismatch between human and machine to
the brain introduces an important variation on this pervasive view of
technology. . . . She has a rare talent for explaining science in
accessible prose."--The Washington Post
"Greenfield's focus is on bringing to light the implications of
Internet-induced 'mind change'--as comparably multifaceted as the issue
of climate change, she argues, and just as important."--Chicago
Tribune
"Mind Change is exceedingly well organized and hits the right balance
between academic and provocative."--Booklist
"[A] challenging, stimulating perspective from an informed
neuroscientist on a complex, fast-moving, hugely consequential
field."--Kirkus Reviews
"[Greenfield] is not just an engaging communicator but a thoughtful,
responsible scientist, and the arguments she makes are well-supported
and persuasive."--Mail on Sunday
"Greenfield's admirable goal to prove an empirical basis for discussion
is . . . an important one."--Financial Times
"An important presentation of an uncomfortable minority
position."--Jaron Lanier, Nature
