Teen Brains Susceptible to Facebook

Teen Brains Susceptible to Facebook

96% of College students use Facebook... when you think about that statistic, it's amazing, but not surprising since this generation is highly energized by technology. "Well-balanced youth often use these sites to further enhance the positive relationships they already have," according to University of Virginia psychologists. But there's a downside for others...

Teens who have behavioral problems and difficulty making friends, or who are depressed, may be more inclined to use social media in negative and sometimes aggressive ways, or not to use such sites at all.

Teens are spending a lot of time hooked up and average of 6 hours a day, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Parents, researchers and educators are trying to figure out what all these hours plugged in are doing to their brains.

The teenage brain is an unfinished product," explains David Walsh, psychologist and author of Why Do They Act that Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen In the teenage years, says Walsh, one of the major circuits that's developing is the prefrontal cortex. 'The circuits that are under construction during the teen years have to do with impulse control, management of aggression, emotional regulation, self regulation a lot of executive functions of the brain," he says.

It's also the reason teenagers are famous for having to pull all-nighters, not thinking through the consequences of downloading porn onto mom's computer, or piercing their tongues. That's because the prefrontal cortex also handles planning, reasoning and social skills, says Jordan Grafman, who heads the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "It's what makes us human," he says and because it's still developing, "it's very susceptible to trends and changes that happen during the adolescent years."

The amazing infographic below mirrors these findings visually as it reveals Facebook's good and bad impact on high school and college age youth.

Infographic on overall Facebook user stats:


Via: Online Education

Picture Cynicism and Creativity in Brain

"What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon." --Denis Waitley

Negatives, cynicism, lack of progress

Positives, creativity, invention, progress

Thoughts?

Photos Can Manipulate Memory

A photo doesn't lie... or does it? With the recent boon in technology it's fairly easy to doctor photos. Most of us take for granted that what we see in a photo is the truth. But recent research at UC Irvine and University of Padua reveals that memory and attitude of public events can be altered... For example, see what a difference it makes to your interpretation of the Tianamen Square protest...

Researchers doctored the original Beijing photo to show large crowds standing in the sidelines while a lone protester stood before a row of advancing Chinese military tanks. Then participants answered questions about the event, including the size of the crowd, the response of law enforcement personnel and the level of violence.

What does this mean to you? Recently reputable media outlets such as the LA Times and USA Today published digitally altered photos, and subsequently issued retractions and apologies. You can see potential to manipulate people's minds with altered images.

“It’s potentially a form of human engineering that could be applied to us against our knowledge and against our wishes and we ought to be vigilant about it,” Loftus of UC Irvine said. “With the addition of a few little upsetting and arousing elements in the Rome protest photo, people remembered this peaceful protest as being more violent than it was, and as a society we have to figure how we can regulate this.”

Ethics and honesty are key to good journalism as well as advertising. How can we preserve objectivity, truth and fairness to both sides of an issue whether in news or advertising with some measure of freedom?

Question Train on Mind and Brain

The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder Ralph W. Sockman

What sparks your curiosity about the mind and brain? Your curiosity and wonderment can generate thoughts not currently wiring in my brain... Why not jot down what's on the tip of your wonderment...

The question train begins here. I'll take your questions and give you the generosity of a post as I answer them. I'm looking for questions that I can flesh out in full for you.

You'll benefit since I'll write on topics [sans jargon] that pique your interest. Plus, you'll double your interest since I'll mention your site in my blog. And, readers and I will benefit since I'll write posts on the brain, mind or multiple intelligences relevant to your needs.

Here's the track. . .

1. Questions that are legitimate to topic of mind, brain or multiple intelligences [gifts and talents]
2. When I write a post to answer, I'll provide a link back to your site
3. If some questions double up for a response, I'll use only one blog and link to more than one site in the response

I'd like to thank Rob Watts at Yack Yack, at SEO Central for his suggestion for fueling up a question train.

We're taking off... Now you take it away!

Magazines to Push Thinking

What we read reveals a lot about us because it influences how we think. For instance, "believing something is true," according to Tulving, "results from the accumulation of information over time, is largely context independent, and has been ascribed to the semantic memory system." I choose magazines with latest ideas and information to push my thinking. So here goes...

Scientific American Mind - provides some of the latest insights about how the mind functions and how that affects us.

The Artist's Magazine - highlights articles on art trends and features new artist's work.

PC Magazine - provides tips about software, PC's and hardware.

The New Yorker - gives very different views and pokes fun at bureaucracies.

Prevention - proactive ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I generally choose Time or Newsweek when in a doctor's or dentist's office because they give an overall update from so many areas.

In addition I read many books. Here's a few I'm reading currently - The Message, for one more day, If Minds Had Toes, Poetry 180 and The Yoga of Drawing

Rob Watts and Steli Efti tagged me for this Magazine meme. And, now I'm tagging Drew McClellan, Ben Yoskovitz, Hsien Lei, Nancy Friedman, and Gavin Heaton. Plase post a link back to my magazine post.

What magazines do you enjoy most. Go ahead and join the magazine meme if you wish and be sure to tag me.

Pace Wires Performance

Ever think of your pace as an art? At least it seemed that way on the golf course last week. Because January's warmer than usual, a few avid players showed up on the course. Not only did our game move faster than normal, but I saw connections that pros such as Tiger Woods speak of – to improve a game. Pace and focus enhance the art of the game.

It wasn’t just me either. The faster, uninterrupted pace meant longer, straighter shots to the green - balls that surprised our foursome. It’s a timing thing and the brain can act like a metronome on the golf course when the pace is right.

For example, Richard Coop speaks of, “a shot clock in a golfer’s mind,” and shows how, “the penalty for poor time-keeping is poor shots.” Cook clocked pros and discovered that most take between 18 and 22 seconds at the tee. Consistency in time and procedure counts in golf, as rhythm counts to an orchestra, or a marketing campaign for a new line.

Tiger Woods put it this way, “Most amateurs don't go out with a plan, and they aren't in rhythm when they get to the first tee. The result is a nervous, tentative opening shot that sets the wrong tone. By the time they find that feel--if they find it at all--it's too late. The round is shot.” Have you noticed that?

Makes me wonder if I’d have played even better out there, if I’d keyed in Wood’s reminder to, “maintain the same pace and tempo.”

Pros like Woods, “Never play a shot before you're ready. That's why a consistent pre-shot routine is essential to good tempo and rhythm.”

What’s the difference, then, between a pro and the rest of us? “The tendency is to speed up mentally and physically under pressure. Your natural rhythm is broken, and you start making mistakes. And, here's the key. "My pre-shot routine,” Woods asserts, “has a calming influence on my nerves and helps me stay in rhythm.”

He simply walks to the ball at a steady pace, which offers him time to think about his shot and “balance his emotions.” For Woods, it’s a matter of playing “within yourself,” where you pace in ways that allow your natural rhythm to kick in.

You could say, it all boils down to a few straightforward strategies that link art to mind for a few more winning shots to the green…

1. Hit the first tee with a game plan to win
2. Move down each fairway at a steady pace - start to finish
3. Swing faster at each tee – without losing focus or engaging emotions
4. Plan shots ahead– and select your next club in your mind, long before you reach for it
5. Avoid time scratching for lost balls in the rough – drop a new ball - take your penalty – and swing.

Check out this new IMAX documentary of Wired to Win for another snapshot of art and mind as it improves performance.

Robert Parker III, Dentist with a Difference

I used to dread trips to the dentist. The photo on the right says it all. But since I found Dr. Robert E. Parker III, that picture changed. He's amazing because he's able to trick my mind so that I don't fear hypodermic needles, full of novocaine, as I did in past. And he also brings more art to his practice.

Here's how Dr. Parker...

Applies new knowledge about the brain. He capitalizes on the brain's ability to be tricked when focus is diverted. So, just before he inserts the needle, he rubs your gums really hard with his finger. As you concentrate on this sensation, the needle's in and out before you know it. Visits are happier, not full of angst. And, no longer do I avoid making appointments as I did in past.

Stays upbeat. I can visualize him singing in an opera, though I know he doesn't. He smiles as he talks you through each procedure with pleasant tone.

Asks personal questions. He really knows patients. He focuses on you in conversations...you matter...you're more than a number.

Fits in emergencies. Since I had a front tooth filling break, he made room for me next day.

Treats assistants well. Dr. Parker's assistant, Sue said, from the moment she wakens, she looks forward to work. Sue has assisted Dr. Parker for about twenty years. And, he includes Sue socially, too. Dr. Parker and his wife consistently invite Sue to join them to go downhill skiing.

Serves community. He's an active member of Rotary and he participates in projects to help others.

I have a whole new perspective about dentist visits since a friend recommended Dr. Parker. He brings more art and mind to dental practice. Result -- less fear -- more well-being.

Art Illumines Advent

When an artist’s mind holds faith as central, that faith finds itself reflected in the heart of art. For Luci Shaw and Fra Angelico, art ferments in the imagination as a sacramental wine.

In keeping with Advent, consider The Annunciation of Christ in Shaw’s poetry and Angelico’s painting.

Angelico, a Dominican friar in Florence, used art in service of his faith. Interestingly, this painter-monk, earned the nickname, “Angelic,” which endured through posterity.

Though Angelico reflects Gothic tradition, he played with Maccaccio’s revolutionary ideas about space and perspective and took new risks as he painted magnificent frescoes. And today, his work is catalogued with early Renaissance art well ahead of most artists of his period.

See Angelico’s The Annunciation (1420) below.

“It has been said that faith is ‘a certain widening of the imagination,’” Shaw mused in her Introduction of, Polishing the Petoskey Stone, a book of poetry. She added, “When Mary asked the Angel, ‘How shall these things be?’ she was asking God to widen her imagination.” Interestingly this is what Shaw does in her carefully selected words.

And, the quiet, calm of Shaw’s words leads us to consider the unexpected visit of the angel to Mary in “Announcement.”

Announcement

Yes, we have seen the studies, sepia strokes
across yellowed parchment, the fine detail
of hand and breast and the fall of cloth –
Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Titian, El Greco,
Roualt — each complex madonna positioned,
sketched, enlarged, each likeness plotted at last
on canvas, layered with pigment, like the final
draft of a poem ofter thirty-nine roughs.

But Mary, virgin, had no sittings, no chance
to pose her piety, no novitiate for body or
for heart. The moment was on her unaware:
The Angel in the room, the impossible demand,
the response without reflection. Only one
word of curiosity, echoing Zechariah’s How?
yet innocently voiced, without request for proof.
The teen head tilted in light, the hand
trembling a little at the throat, the candid
eyes, wide with acquiescence to shame and glory –
“Be it unto me as you have said.”

Luci Shaw, Polishing the Petoskey Stone, 1990.

For Shaw and Angelico, celebration of faith finds expression in well-crafted icons which illumine the Holy.