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iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gary Small, Gigi Vorgan
Publisher: Collins Living
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.47
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 21940
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0061340332
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.820285
EAN: 9780061340338
ASIN: 0061340332
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
Their insights are extraordinary, their behaviors unusual. Their brains—shaped by the era of microprocessors, access to limitless information, and 24-hour news and communication—are remapping, retooling, and evolving. They're not superhuman. They're your twenty-something coworkers, your children, and your competition. Are you keeping up? In iBrain, Dr. Gary Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists and experts on brain function and behavior, explores how technology's unstoppable march forward has altered the way young minds develop, function, and interpret information. iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: Where do you fit in on the evolutionary chain? What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price? While high-tech immersion can accelerate learning and boost creativity, it also has its glitches, among them the meteoric rise in ADD diagnoses, increased social isolation, and Internet addiction. To compete and thrive in the age of brain evolution, and to avoid these potential drawbacks, we must adapt, and iBrain—with its Technology Toolkit—equips all of us with the tools and strategies needed to close the brain gap.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Pretty much what I had expected December 21, 2008
Samuel Larsson (Sweden)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was curious when I first opened the book. I have just started an education within digital media and the subject was head on.
The book shows how our mind tries to coop up with the impressions we're feeding it with. If we're feeding it with a 24-7 computer screen and "multitasking" in the digtial field, we'll develop skills in the regions of our brain that are busy while doing this. But we don't have time for other practices so for example our face to face interaction will get understimulated. Especially if you're in an age when your brain grows alot, there is both good and bad with major iBrain impact that could effect you permanent.
I liked the book, but it felt kind of "pop-science" sometimes. I don't think many would agree that the human brain could evolve so much over just one generation (digitalnatives generation) that the book shows. But it was really intresting reading and gave me alot of stuff to work with when it comes to planning a workday in front of the computer without getting tired and zombielike 7 hrs later.
Read and discuss! But don't expect it to be course litterature in medicin.
 iBrain book review! November 27, 2008
Darin Waugh
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Our brains are an amazing force of nature, but until recently we haven't had a good understanding of how the way we live our lives affects the actual structure and function of our brains.
In "iBrain...Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vogan explore the fascinating subject of how modern digital technology affects our brains, especially the use of the computer and video games.
This book is important for many reasons, not only does it show how the structure and function of the brain is affected by the use of technology but it goes on to explain the health effects of the misuse of technology, and even the social, political, and economic impact of our high-tech culture.
As the book points out, the average young person is now exposed to eight hours a day of technology which can contribute to, "hyperactivity, inattention, depression, and multitasking mania," to name just a few.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons, especially because it just doesn't keep repeating the same themes without adding any new information, it truly does keep expanding on the subject material and encourages you look at how you and your family use technology. As the authors explain, we don't need to stop using the computer and other technological devices, "Instead we all should help our brains adapt and succeed in the ever accelerating technological environment."
The book is easy to read and is not just full of tech doom and gloom. It includes many suggestions on how we can help our brains by using both technology based programs and face to face social interaction. As the point is made, that as we become more "driven to distraction" by technology we don't want to become socially isolated from each other. This would not only be harmful to our brains but to society and our human nature as well.
I recently read an article about a restaurant that doesn't have any waiters, instead it uses a video screen built into the table in which you order your food (then the screen bothers you the whole time you eat asking if you want to play games). If this is where our society is heading than I classify iBrain as essential reading. It may just help us save our humanity.
 Say you want an evolution? November 26, 2008
Wilma W. Dague (kansas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Say you want an evolution?
iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan
Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan's iBrain is a fascinating book that details how technology is changing our brains. Their main thesis is that our brains and the brains of our children are much more plastic and changeable than we have been led to believe. They differentiate between digital immigrants: people who had to learn technology such as computers and cell phones as adults, and digital natives: people who have known technology since birth. The good news for middle-aged digital immigrants is that we have the advantage over older ones and the younger natives, because our brains are plastic enough to respond to and learn new technologies than older brains, but we retain the social skills that native sometimes lack.
My son has a mild form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome, so I panicked for a moment. Did I let him watch television too much when he was younger. Play on the computer? No and no-he wasn't interested thankfully. But he is now, and I was surprised to learn that digital natives suffer some of the same symptoms as autistic individuals: lack of eye contact; a just-the-facts approach to communication, and a lack of give-and-take in conversation. So now that he's a PSP fanatic, is my son's Asperger's getting worse? I don't think so. He has enough else going on. According to iBrain, that seems to be the key. All electronics and no face time, makes for digital natives that have poor social skills, so it is very important to reinforce human connection away from electronic devices. The warning against multitasking and how is can contribute to anxiety and attention deficit disorder symptoms seem particularly relevant today when so many of us have trouble paying attention.
The book provides many resources for understanding the best uses of technology determining whether or not technology is interfering with our lives. The questionnaires designed to locate the difficulties technology are followed by tangible exercises for improving our real world connections. The authors even include a glossary of technological terms, an especially-helpful list of emoticons and texting abbreviations, and a list of professional organizations that help with cyber addictions.
The message of iBrain is not that technology is good or bad, but that it is both. Electronic devices can change the structure of our brains and leave us disconnected and lonely, but they can also help us accomplish much in terms of work, economics and social connection. For the sake of our brains, however, we must walk the fine line of being able to use and learn how to use new technologies, without losing our essential humanity.
 Designed to Sell Fear to the Fearful November 15, 2008
Bryan K. Long (Palo Alto, CA USA)
17 out of 23 found this review helpful
I have read Small's book "iBrain" over the last couple of days and am very unimpressed.
I suppose by Small's description of Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, I am an early immigrant or perhaps a "pioneer" --- I went online in my early 20s connecting to the first online communities (dial-up bulletin boards in the early 80s). My brain was still a little plastic then, I suppose, so I'm like someone who immigrates as a young adult.
It seems to me Dr. Small set about to write a book that would appeal to the fears of the digital immigrants, the fears of all parents, and the disparaging emotions of those who just generally feel that the world is going to the dogs.
Dr. Small's writing is full of emotionally laden language. Teenagers don't just look at computer screens, they "stare". Their music doesn't play, it "blares". Each chapter is prefaced by a short horror story about a cyberaddicted person. Do-it-yourself "assessment tests" at the back of the book ask questions that would lead most honest people to worry about themselves -- and even more likely, to fill in the answers for their spouse or child in a negative way.
Small conflates TV with computer use in much of his writing; despite their similar screens they are completely different. He reports early in the book that "a recent Kaiser study found that young people eight to eighteen years of age expose their brains to eight and a half hours of digital and video sensory stimulation each day." Note his choice of words: "expose their brains to...". Not "experience" or "use", but "expose their brains"; like exposure to radiation. His choice of words already betrays his judgment and seeks to set the reader's bias. But the study notes that only one hour of this is using the computer! Four hours is video and TV, nearly two hours is music. Less than an hour is video games. Through the book, however, Small would have the reader worry about computer use causing not only brain changes, but autism symptoms and other antisocial personality disorders. Is this likely to be the computer use, or the TV watching?
Now of course it is clear that new technology is seductive and can be addictive. It is just common sense that playing computer games that repeatedly give you a simulation of blowing someone's head off is going to affect your emotional health. In that, some games ARE worse than TV because usually once you've watched the movie once or twice you are done with it, whereas you play the game over and over for hours. On the other hand, if you watch four or more hours of schlok TV every day, you are going to be brain damaged.
But don't blame it on the Internet. Sure, some kids or adults are going to spend too much time on the Internet, or develop addictions to porn or Facebook or Ebay. Just like some kids who smoked pot really did go on to get addicted to heroin.
In summary, I think Small throws in a few interesting tidbits about brain function, but his conclusions are suspect and his tone highly judgmental. Yes, computer use is causing changes in brain wiring, just like the printing press, telephone, radio and TV, and even automobiles. And there are always people who aren't well adjusted. Why jump to the conclusion that computers are a cause rather than a refuge? Well, everybody has to make a buck -- but I'm sorry to have contributed to his income.
iBrain: A Must Read for Parents November 12, 2008
Tracey S. Witt
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
iBrain by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan
1st Edition, New York, N.Y. 2008
Collins Living, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN-13:978-0-06-134033-8
$24.95
iBrain is a fascinating foray into the world of neuroscience. While it does deal with some very technical subjects, the authors manage to do so in a very "user friendly" and entertaining manner. For instance, throughout the book, young people born into the "Digital Age" who have grown up with and are comfortable with technology are called "Digital Natives" while those of us who have had to learn to adapt to the digital age are referred to as "Digital Immigrants".
The basic message of the book is that while Digital Natives have gained amazing multitasking skills by the constant and adept use of technology, they have lost and/or suffered a lack of face to face people skills. They don't tend to look people in the eye as much and often miss subtle body language cues. Digital Immigrants on the other hand have the people skills, but lack the digital savvy and multitasking abilities of the Digital Natives. The authors point out that there is not just a "generation gap" between the Immigrants and the Natives, but in fact a "brain gap". The Digital Native's brain is actually evolving differently than their parents' brains did. For instance, parts of the brain that control empathy are not developing due to a lack of face to face interactions. But, average IQ scores are steadily increasing.
How many of us have Digital Natives in our homes? You know the ones, they look like our children but they have cell phones permanently attached to their hands and can't stop texting even at the dinner table; or they download music while playing an online game and watching the new YouTube videos whenever there's a break in the action. Studies have shown that video gaming can actually suppress frontal lobe activity. That's the part of the brain that controls learning, memory, emotion and even impulse control. And that's not all, this constant multitasking leads to shorter attention spans and difficulty with traditional learning, ie., school and classroom learning.
There are so many things about technology that can rewire your brain, including "technobrain burnout". That's pretty self explanatory. I think we've all had that feeling of being completely washed out after a long session on the computer. But, a chronic state of technobrain burnout can actually reshape your brain structure.
This book is completely filled with amazing information about the brain and how it is being changed by technology, for good and ill. I absolutely devoured it. I couldn't even resist getting out my highlighter and postit flags. In addition to the technical information, Dr. Small and Ms. Vorgan give practical advice on how to combat many of the problems we now face in this digital age, including technology addictions. As they point out, anyone can become addicted; and there are now twelve step programs to help people overcome these addictions.
I found iBrain to be highly informative, interesting and entertaining. While one would not suspect a book so filled with neuroscience to be such a comfortable read, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the changes this digital age has brought to us and especially our children. This is a must read whether you are a" Digital Immigrant" or "Digital Native. There's so much to learn.
Other books by this husband and wife team include The Memory Bible, The Memory Prescription, and The Longevity Bible.
Here's a taste of some of the other facts you'll find in this book:
A baby's brain can consume over 60% of the baby's entire caloric intake. Most of the brain's synapses are formed in the first six months.
The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends no TV or video for children under two.
Scientists have pinpointed the area of the teenage brain that controls the tendency to selfishness and lack of empathy. Too much digital exposure can keep this from developing into a normal adult brain pattern
Thousands of car accidents in the US have been caused by teenagers texting while driving.
Overall leisure reading by has decreased - Digital Natives say books make them feel isolated; they can't stay connected with their online friends
Chronic video game players can develop "video game brain" which turns off the frontal lobes even after the person stops playing.
Laparoscopic surgeons who played video games at least three hours each a week made approximately 40% fewer errors than those who didn't play
Video gaming can improve peripheral vision, pattern recognition; develop more systematic thinking and better executive skills
22% of American have never used the Internet or email and are not online
Stanford University reports that 14% of those who use computers will neglect school, work, family, food, and sleep to stay online.
The American Medical Association is considering whether video gaming and internet addictions should be considered official diagnostic categories.
China has approximately 2,000,000 web addicted young people. They have a boot camp that has successfully treated thousands.
In 2006, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (owner of FOX Networks) bought MySpace for $580 million
Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billiion.
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