At a recent Directors Round Table event, I was chatting with a few there about becoming more focused on content creation. The overwhelming recommendation was to use ChatGPT to pull together the initial information and then ‘edit it in your voice’. Maybe I’m old. Maybe I’m a bit too much of a Luddite. Maybe I…
Does spending lots of time online cause ADHD? Directly. It seems not. Spending time on digital devices does reduce your ability to focus and concentrate and excessive use can cause symptoms similar to those displayed with ADHD, but using a device will not ‘give you’ ADHD. Indirectly. It seems to. According to Gabor Mate,…
In her book, Dopamine Nation, Dr Anna Lembke explores how our dopamine system works and how, in our search for happiness and the pursuit of pleasure and quick fixes, we can unwittingly head into a state of chronic dopamine deficiency that drives and exacerbates our reliance on our ‘happiness fix’ that leads to addictive behaviours…
An anecdotal account in an article in the Guardian showcases some actions a lot of us take when scrolling through social media – stopping at an advert and buying whatever it is that is on offer, being disappointed with the purchase when it arrives and heading off to the post-office to send it back. The…
Memory loss is a concern for many – especially as we age – and is all too real if we have elderly relatives who show signs of dementia. But, what if technology plays a greater role in the onset of memory loss in younger adults than we may give it credit for? A recent opinion piece…
Although this book is not, technically, a cyberpsychology-related book, it’s included here as ADHD is commonly linked to online addictions. As the doctors explain, those with ADHD are 5 to 10 times more likely to have some sort of addiction. If you, or your child, has ADHD or is suspected of having ADHD, then this…
There is a common misconception, based on research done on split-brain patients in the 1960s, that creativity and analytical thinking activities are either right- or left-hemisphere brain functioning. We often talk about people being either creative or analytical, implying a dominance of either the right or left side of their brain. This thinking has been…
Humans tend to categorise and group others according to specific physical, behavioural and mental states or characteristics. We do this because we need shortcuts to minimise excessive energy consumption. Getting to know someone on an individual basis takes time, effort and energy. So, if we can quickly classify someone, we can group them according to…
Johann Hari’s book is a summary of three years of research and interviewing specialists in a number of academic areas. The mission of his book is to investigate how technology is changing our ability to focus and pay attention. Over the course of three years Johann Hari interviews a number of ‘experts’ in various disciplines,…
Prior to the introduction of the Blackberry and Smartphone, when we stood in queues, waited for a friend at a cafe or travelled on a train, we’d spend time thinking, contemplating, reading, reflecting, planning…. MRI scans on people given tasks to complete and then given nothing to do, showed that there is a middle section…
