Your Brain on Computers – Overuse of Digital Devices May Lead to Brain Fatigue – NYTimes.com

A really interesting piece in the NYTimes, which is relevant for this blog in a couple of ways.  First, the piece indicts computing technology for preventing us from having downtime. Second, the suggestion is that this downtime is necessary for better learning.  Thus, placing us in computing education of trying to teach something which one might need to get away from in order to learn about it!

Cellphones, which in the last few years have become full-fledged computers with high-speed Internet connections, let people relieve the tedium of exercising, the grocery store line, stoplights or lulls in the dinner conversation.The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

via Your Brain on Computers – Overuse of Digital Devices May Lead to Brain Fatigue – NYTimes.com.