SWA 2

Lauren Shumpert

ENG 102

SWA # 2

Hooked On Technology, and Paying a Price

                Matt Richtel, author of Hooked on Technology, and Paying a Price, quoted Nora Volkow’s saying that “technology is rewiring our brains”. Richtel is meaning that technology has led some people to be productive multi-taskers, while others have trouble focusing and get distracted by unnecessary information. He traces this back to technology because researchers have proven that while the Internet does let people find information more efficiently, cellphones, emails and television, often transforms people’s life, and make them more introverted.  Richtel even states that “in 2008, people consumed three times as much information each day as they did in 1960”; which proves that with the increase in technology, the spread of information and knowledge increases worldwide. Therefore, people are learning more, but they often have trouble distinguishing what information they need from what they don’t need.

                By using the Campbell family, Richtel is able to connect with his readers and stress the importance of technology use on people’s brains and thought process. The Campbell family is easy to relate to, because we often have someone in our family, or know someone who is technology-driven. By using the Campbell family, Richtel is able to prove his point in a better way because we are able to picture everything that is going on as it is happening. Most people also have witnessed people who seem so wrapped up in their job or electronics, that just about everything else comes as a second priority to them. It is also easier to have people acknowledge the importance of an issue if you put things into a story that they can relate to, and this is exactly what Richtel does.

                “The Myth of Multitasking”, which Richtel refers to in his writing, is a test that was performed by Mr. Ophir and some of his colleagues.  During the test, people were split into two groups, heavy multitaskers and those who were not. It was proven that those who were classified as heavy multitaskers did worse at the test, because they became easily distracted when useless information was added in to what they were trying to do. It was shown that the multitaskers were less efficient at juggling and solving problems. They became too wrapped up in trying to process the new, useless, information, than to use the old information to finish a task. Through this experiment, Richtel did change my thinking on multitasking. I had always had a preconceived thought that people who were able to multitask, would be able to solve problems quicker, learn more, and ultimately be more efficient. But like Richtel proved, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes those who are able to focus on one task at a time, without distractions, are able to get things done at a faster rate.