The Pull of Technology
Year 5 to 12 parents and teachers
Technology, by itself, is mostly neutral. It is potentially enormously useful, but because of its exponential rise and commercialisation, a darker side has emerged. We are all guinea pigs and must, as individuals, create personal boundaries and teach our children the same.
It is the chemical dopamine that makes tech so addictive. Dopamine is best known for its role in the brain’s reward system, which responds to everything from sex and food to addictive drugs. But dopamine also helps regulate emotional responses, memory and movement. And abnormal dopamine levels have been linked to disorders including Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and autism.
It’s still not clear how differences in the dopamine system affect the human brain,” according to Dr Nedad Sestan.
Through the advent of Internet technology and its now inherent profit motivated design, tech engineers and designers have grossly abused this dopamine reward mechanism without significant understanding of the implications. If leading neuro scientists still don’t know how dopamine affects us, we should be cautious in how we use technology.
Source: Nedad Sestan, MD, PhD Professor of Neuroscience, and Professor of Comparative Medicine, of Genetics and of Psychiatry; Executive Director, Genome Editing Center
Question: How do you resist irresistible technologies?
Casper Pieters PhD Dip Ed is an author and educator who uses adventure narratives to enliven the ICT curriculum for young people. www.casperpieters.com
