Software Sense

Is the Internet making us stupid?
Computing technology, especially the Internet and World Wide Web, has brought many advantages to our work and leisure. But instant and continuous connectivity has a downside too: it can make us less effective in our work, less able to think well, and it can make us anxious and unrelaxed. In this short podcast series, we discuss some of the problems and suggests some ways in which we can make the most of technology and overcome some of its risks.

Podcast #1: Is the Internet making us stupid? [MP3, 7 minutes]
An introduction to the series, outlining some of the problems of spending so much of our lives online -- from the social costs of Internet addiction to how being online too much may prevent our brains from learning effectively.

Podcast #2: The myth of multitasking [MP3, 7 minutes]
In the early days of the Web, people thought that multitasking allowed us to be more efficient, by doing many things at once -- and that we were getting better at it. Now many researchers think that, on the contrary, multitasking damages our efficiency and saps our creativity.

Podcast #3: What the Internet is doing to our brains [MP3, 11 minutes]
Being online doesn't only affect your life while you're doing it. It turns out that, because of a phenomenon known as 'neuroplasticity', your brain is continually adjusting to make you better at the tasks you do more, at the expense of the tasks you do less. That means that our computer use might actually be causing some parts of our brain to atrophy -- and they may be the parts that help us do the most important things, such as thinking deeply and creatively.

Podcast #4: A technology of distraction [MP3, 11 minutes]
The very technologies that make the Web easy to navigate might be making it harder for us to comprehend what we read online. Links, in particular, are the glue that connects web pages together, but they're also a constant distraction: little signs that interrupt our thinking and keep tempting us away, sidetracking us down irrelevant paths.

Podcast #5: Five ideas for digital detox [MP3, 9 minutes]
So how can we overcome these risks? We're not likely to abandon technology, given all the advantages it brings. So we have to learn to live with it and make the most of it, while protecting ourselves from its inherent risks. This podcast gives five simple ideas for how to live better with technology.