A football thanks again. To the womens game for. Weeks. In motion not some kids facing 90 lives. The results on t. W. This is a smartphone and it is indeed quite smug installs all your contacts helps you navigate through that hot new restaurant and even. Reminds you of your cousins birthday. Wait where was i. Phones making osama our topic today on ship. The well being tells me i received 84. 00 notifications yesterday and spent exactly 2 hours on my smartphone for which i am gloc that 77. 00 times if i hadnt the activated push notifications my phone would be every minute also as apps for my attention that kept me from. Well cool video but it can also be stressful. And get released with every notification increases. Its no laughing matter. Push notifications they want to maximize the amount of time we spend. Because the more we use those apps the more information on they can collect which they can monetize by advertising neuroscientists heading back from the group to university frankford explains what effects this has on our brains. This is where distraction happens when i concentrate on one task these brain regions are active. All sensory stimuli are filtered out by this region the socalled. Blocking access but when theres a stimulus thats very different to other stimuli it gets through and distracts. And. This is what smartphone and App Developers capitalize on they want to create products that permanently grab our attention with push notifications vibrations audio signals and so forth. The. New stimuli mean different brain regions are activated and sort of pull power from my ability to concentrate. Suddenly i am no longer focused on my one task because my brain is having to process multiple stimuli and that means i cant devote all my mental resources to fulfilling my original task. According to a recent study using smartphones can make us feel more restless normally the more someone performs a certain task the better they can do it and as a result their brain signals become calmer but the opposite is the case for smartphone users the more they use their devices the more erratic their brain activity becomes one possible explanation for this is that smartphone users tend to have several apps or browser windows open at once which can lead to over. Stimulation of the brain. Our brains arent meant for multitasking that when i switch task quickly i tend to overlook things and my error rate goes up and while switching tasks my brain also needs a moment to readjust which is another moment when were error prone finishes. The problem isnt technology itself but how we use it. Of any power when we constantly use such devices we get used to being in a state of distraction over time this will lead to it becoming harder for us to focus on and prioritize tasks and that will make us feel stressed and we become more forgetful as well because we cant focus our attention on one thing that also not on a t. D. But its done use for them till appointment the calendar wont let you forget navigation apps always know the best route facebook suggests events you might like a recent study indicates people may become mentally lazy the more they rely on best modify loans especially those who are more intuitive than analytical they use google instead of their memory some scientists refer to this as the google effect we no longer memorize things because we can find among google. So. So far researchers have not found any concrete evidence that smartphones alter the way our brains function there are signs they could be impeding our memory and sense of direction. This decision brains tend to adapt to how we use them this applies especially to our memory today we no longer need to memorize as much as in the past and using sat navs means we dont have to rely on our sense of direction in the same way we did say 30 years ago and this all affects our brains. In practice smartphones and apps mean we no longer have to remember to share jewels addresses and such because out of vices to that for us this means were storing less information but were also practicing the act of memorizing lists also has consequences. If i stop committing things to memory i will lose the ability to do so and that means no longer being able to process that information humans do more than just gather relevant information on the internet the difference between us and machines is still that we also have the ability to understand and process stored information to. Our brains are especially good at retaining information particularly well when we can reference where we found it thats easier to do with analog sources than digital ones for example when we read a book we can often remember roughly on which page we came across a certain piece of information but thats not necessarily the case with scrolling through it digital text this impacts our ability to memorize information. By computer computers need to compress data because their Storage Capacity is limited with humans the opposite is true the more contextual information we have about something the easier it is for us to recall it. Some tech experts like nicholas even. I think were gradually losing our ability to read and remember long texts its unclear whether thats the case but it is clear that the more information we have memorized the more new information we can add and store away effectively unlike Artificial Intelligence systems we humans are also able to make decisions with very little information. Computer xaviers require lots of data to compare things and detect patterns humans dont like we can use one single piece of information to develop an abstract model and apply this to new situations when i saw for you did you but. When it comes to creativity ive still got an on ai theres a study we like those that shows how much nearby smartphones influence us 3 groups were asked to perform a mentally challenging task group one was told to lay their phones on the table face down group 2 was told to leave them in their pockets group 3 in another room all phones where in silent mode. Which group fair the worst. Exactly the one with their smartphones on the table just wanting to look at the phone is enough to diminish mental capacity and its built into the design. Mechanisms designed to get us. Tech Companies Take advantage of our need. To make their products successful push notifications and social media ensure that we spend as much time as possible with their products because the more we use them the better for the product. Telephones and apps were designed to grab our attention and get us addicted in some way and that sense we cant get away and we get used to them. Even. But they do this randomly its whats called. The same mechanism used for gambling and. Every time we get a message or a reaction to one of our posts on social media our brain releases a little dopamine thats the neurotransmitter that makes our whole body feel good as a result we make to have. Fun. What we know is that when i get positive reinforcement on social media that affects the regions of my brain that send our ward impulses. Whether im using drugs achieving something or winning the lottery its always the same regions of my brain that light up when im feeling good and these regions are also activated by these apps and likes. We become addicted to those. It seems that varies depending on the person here are the signals to watch out for phantom vibrations people who experience this think they hear the phone vibrating even though it isnt. Another warning signal is the fear of missing out or foma. And nomophobia is the fear of not having your mobile device and being unreachable. I have to admit i know all 3 phenomena even phantom rays. Does that make me an addict not a matter of opinion but i know its a good idea to put the phone away now and then i leave my phone at home when i walk with my dog. Digital detox. Doing nothing without interruptions or distractions is beneficial to the brain. Giving the brain small breaks in daily life where you consciously give yourself the opportunity to process what you have lived and seen by the good news is that the brain basically does it by itself it only needs you to not bombarded with new stimuli every minute. Daydreaming activates a part of the brain that researchers call. Network previously acquired information is stored even reconnected has some advice on how to break. Free spaces. Apps that are allowed to say notifications. Apps you really need. Said offline times when you. And. Greyscale instead of color that makes it less attractive. Regular exercise helps to reduce stress hormones and. People in real life is very. We have learned that virtual interactions cannot take the place of real social contacts across. Equally important sufficient. This is what the brain needs to store knowledge and clear out junk doctors so to speak so that we can get through the next day able to concentrate without stress. Theres no clear. Digital dementia. When smartphones remember things for us we have room for other stuff. Smart phones are helpful gadgets Everyone Needs to decide for themselves they use them just like with t. V. Or video games. What do you think join our discussion on facebook and i want you you tube you will also find explains their information on the latest tech topics gadgets and Everything Else you need to know thank you and next week. You know that 77 percent. Are younger than thanks a lot. And you know what on the 77 percent we talk about issues. Why is african identity so important who better to answer this question for me than some Young Africans so lets talk about the 77 percent. D. W. He calls life. Boring the people have. Money to start a culture is really the girls in gambia. The for both his legal claims to change womens football here with their projects. 60 minutes. He takes it personally you went with all the wonderful stories that make the game so special. For all truth. Becomes more than football online. So ive heard it said before afro pop afro future is in even it seems that recently there is i might even go as far as call it an obsession of africans to attach their identity to the works that they do and im wondering why why is african identity so important who better to answer this question for me than some Young Africans and one of them actually named his album very audacious title live and die in africa so were going to start with you be an african story