It has never been as easy to get information about anything as it is today. Answers to all questions are just a click away. Technology helps us check spellings and meanings of new words, calculate logarithmic problems, answers questions related to astrophysics, molecular biology, shopping, catch a cab, even finding out the best restaurant to eat in your city... the list is endless. And it can all be done over your mobile phone or laptop.
But is this connectivity healthy?
Scientists say no. In fact, researchers say the amount of information available online has left many of us stressed and overwhelmed.
A study by ESRI U.K. has found that about a third of the people surveyed feel that they are undergoing "data overload" and feel stressed at the inability to process all the information available.
"When we're inundated with emails, Twitter, Facebook, social media, search engines like Google, it's as if we're expected to know more than we actually do, and we can't retain that level of information, that bombardment. When we feel overwhelmed, we start to delay making decisions.," said Lynda Shaw, a neuroscience and psychology lecturer at Brunel University in London, according to BBC.
"Paying attention to a vast amount of data requires multitasking, rapidly switching attention from one source to another, which has been found to increase levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Receiving novel information activates the brain's reward pathway, which leads to a continuous cycle in which we are compelled to seek out more and more information, eventually resulting in a state of restlessness," said Dimitrios Tsivrikos, a consumer and business psychologist at UCL, reports The Telegraph.
But Tsivrikos, says there is a solution. If information is supplied through images and graphics, the human brain is able to assimilate it better.
In fact the ESRI study has found that about 60 percent of those surveyed said that they find maps or graphics easier to understand and digest than lots of text, reports Fresh Business Thinking.
So, get ready to think differently and train yourself to write shorter emails. The brain cannot really process long, verbose letters and streams of data. And yes, a few doodles might help too.
