Why texting harms your IQ

[Davey]

Hello everybody

when i read the Dutch news paper this morning, i read something funny, what do you guys/girls think of it... anybody knows other things that can Damage your IQ???

i looked for it on the i-net to show you guys in english, so here it is:

Why texting harms your IQ
By Michael Horsnell
Txts n emails mk ppl stupid coz they R worse than smking pot & lead 2 a st8 of 'infomania'


THE regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana.

That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user's IQ.

This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavourably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have labelled the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced stupidity as ﾂ"infomaniaﾂ".

Research on sleep deprivation suggests that the IQ drop caused by electronic obsession is also equivalent to a wakeful night.

Infomania is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men, the study commissioned by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has concluded.

The noticeable drop in IQ is attributed to the constant distraction of ﾂ"always onﾂ" technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the task in hand.

Workers lose productivity by interrupting a business meeting and disrupt social gatherings because of their infirmity, the report said.

The brain also finds it hard to cope with juggling lots of tasks at once, reducing its overall effectiveness, it added. And while modern technology can have huge benefits, excessive use can be damaging not only to a person's mind, but to their social life.

Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ deterioration and 1,100 adults were interviewed.

More than six in ten (62 per cent) of people polled admit that they were addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages so assiduously that they scrutinised work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an email and one in five (21 per cent) will interrupt a meeting to do so.

Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues, increasing stress and dissenting feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude. Yet one in three Britons believes that it is not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.

The effects on IQ were studied by Dr Glenn Wilson, a University of London psychologist, as part of the research project.

ﾂ"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon,ﾂ" he said. ﾂ"We have found that infomania, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness.

ﾂ"Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.ﾂ"

The report suggests that firms who give employees gadgets and devices to help them keep in touch from wherever they might be should also produce guidelines on use.

These ﾂ"best practice tipsﾂ" including using ﾂ"dead timeﾂ", such as travelling time, to read messages and check e-mails and turning devices off in meetings. David Smith, commercial manager of Hewlett Packard, said: ﾂ"The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour ﾂ'always on' society.

ﾂ"This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses.ﾂ"

He said that although the company produced such technology, it was similar to a motor manufacturer making a 150mph sports car and telling drivers to stick within speed limits.

He added: ﾂ"Similarly, ﾂ'always on' technology has proven productivity benefits but people need to use it responsibly. We know that technology makes us more effective, but we also know that misuse of technology can be counter-productive.ﾂ"

GETTING THE MESSAGE



More than 50 billion e-mails are despatched every day wordwide; in 2001 the traffic was less than 12 billion

Of these 88 per cent are junk e-mails including around 1 per cent which are virus-infected

The average number of e-mail messages received per person per day is 32. This is rising by 84 per cent each year

There are 440 million electronic mailboxes including 170 million corporate ones in use, growing by 32 per cent per year

A total of 1,035 million mobile phone text messages are despatched each month in Britain.

The average amount of texts per month is 37 per user compared to 21 in 2001

A million children aged under 10 in the UK — one in three — now have their own phones

The average age at which a child gets his or her first mobile phone in this country is eight

Eighty two per cent of children and young people from 5 to 24 — a total of 12.6 million — own a mobile phone; this is predicted to rise to 87 per cent by 2007

 

[lexico]

Excellent articles. Dutch Baka !

I could agree with almost evey point they made.
The research itself; the gather of data; the aligning of teeming info; finding a catchy thesis; all excellent kind of work.

But one thing; the reseachers themselves were found to suffer one serious mental defect....:claps:
Flawed interpretation. I disagree on the interpretation...

For one, I don't multi task... because I can't. hehe...
I don't think texting (is that the word now ?) itself has any harm. Infact, I think it's the best thing to keep the mind in focus on the imprtant things in life, like topics & debates; keeping in touch with your friends, with your own thoughts, feelings, the world.... so much to learn...and learn... yeah !!

 

[Davey]

thanks for the reply lex....

texting have lots of words i think , i think the official word for it is SMS ( small message service)

i do think in some way it can infect your iq, because of when you have infomania , text all the time you make your co-workers anoy, ( i think when you talk on the phone in subway-train-bus , you can also do this), get stressed because you need to reply the message Fast ( but need to wait) email, you can get 1% virus or spam ( really anoying) but other way, you can get lots of good info true sms and emails and make your iq higher...

with being stoned, you get fussy, but i imagination is growing ( look at some guys that use drugs ( like rapers) artists ... they get money for smoking weed... ( one way less stress because they have money)



for the qeustion i asked: in what other way can your iq get down? boxing does... get hit on your head all the time, you can suffer brain damage ,, lose memories.... for example... we had a national IQ test on tv, with a dutch boxer ( regilio tuur a former world champion middle weight ) he got the lowest of all with a score of 84....)

 

[misa.j]

Thanks for the article, dutch baka. (I really hate calling you 'baka'...)

It was indeed interesting, although I'm not worried about my IQ going down that much. Hahaha.
I neither own a mobile phone, nor work online, so my usage of the internet is only for leisure.
There were times that I felt as if my thoughts were not coming to my brain as fast as I wished right after being online for a long time, but I thought it was because my brain was just tired.

 

[Ma Cherie]

That would make sense, texting makes me forget how words are spelled. And at times I even forget basic grammer in sentences. Goodnessm this sucks.

 

[Doc]

Damn. So this is the reason why I can't think a lot of the time when I'm on the internet. Better yet, this is the reason why I always need spell check for my forum posts. This sucks *****.

Doc:ramen:

 

[Maciamo]

anybody knows other things that can Damage your IQ???

The first tip would be not to believe everything you read on the Internet, especially such articles!

IQ cannot be damaged or lowered except if the brain suffers some physical damage.

Let me remind you that "crystalised non-verbal" IQ (the one tested by Mensa and usually considered the most reliable) is not related to memory or knowledge, and is supposed not to change from childhood (from about 6 years old) to the first signs of senility (usually after the age of 50, but sometimes much later).

IQ only test cognitive, logical or spacial abilities. If those researches confuse IQ with intelligence (which includes knowledge, artistic and sport aptitudes, language skills, sociability skills, emotional control, understanding people's feelings, creativity, imagination, etc.), then they must not be very intelligent themselves.

As for the article, I think that using texting can actually increase one's cognition, for example short messages sent with a mobile phone, as people have to think about ways to shorten words in the most effective way, or decode other people's abbreviations. Discussion forums like here are another form of texting, and certainly a great way to increase one's knowledge and make one's grey matter work in all those rational discussions.

Anyway, IQ is something stable. Fatigue, stress, etc can slightly influence the results of IQ tests, but that's no news, and certainly not irreversible, as the article suggest by using the word "damage".

 

[Shuujin]

It is better than shorthand. I think it's a great new way to prevent typing out so much. It increases short hand structure among the internet. It's a new type of information style. Many people reject the idea of having something new within the world, however I like the idea of people typing this way. Just because people type this way, it doesn't mean they are s2pid. So |=ud63 you.