I still think Steve Jobs was a genius, but if you look at the description beneath the video on the youtube page itself it says, "Technology codes our minds. Changes our OS" This got me thinking. With the advancement and abundance of personal technology devices, are we truly upgrading our neurological operating systems? In my mind, there's not doubt that new synapses are being formed and myelinated everyday but in a human sense, tradeoffs seem to be occurring. Is this "new and improved" OS of ours - the neurological software - actually taking up more space on our hard drives - the neurological hardware? Especially subcortically? Is a tradeoff occurring? Taken directly from the abstract of Kobesova and Kolar's recent paper, "Developmental Kinesiology: Three levels of motor control in the assessment and treatment of the motor system", we can see that: 'Following the newborn period, the subcortical level of the CNS motor control emerges and matures mainly during the first year of life. This allows for basic trunk stabilization, a prerequisite for any phasic movement and for the locomotor function of the extremities. At the subcortical level, orofacial muscles and afferent information are automatically integrated within posturalelocomotor patterns." Those of you who understand DK know that this is a critical period of learning. Not only physically, but socially, emotionally, etc as well (read "How Smart is Your Baby"). But strictly in a motor control sense, the obvious is that technology is making us more sedentary.
The not so obvious, is perhaps such technology is also rewiring our neurological OS - the subcortical, the automatic - and deleting our "movement" programs. Thankfully, we know that paper is still better. But my only hope is that we don't "empty the trash".
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