Given that my new book is out in October (April onwards outside UK) I think it’s time to start dripping in some of the content as a series of blog posts. Please note that the final published version will be somewhat different from the blogged version due to ongoing changes. The book’s title is Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds, Why this Matters and What We Can Do About it. Here we go…

Digital technology is a double-edged chalice. It liberates but it enslaves. It gives us freedom and access but it also creates isolation and reduces compassion. But can something as seemingly innocent as a mobile phone or a Google search really change the way that people think and act? This is a very important question. It is also a question that is actively engaging the minds of a number of eminent scientists, particularly those who study the physiology of the brain. According to Professor Susan Greenfield, a brain researcher at the University of Oxford, “We could be sleepwalking into a new world of technology without even considering what it is doing to our brains.”

For example, is it just a coincidence that 79% of children in Britain now have a TV in their bedroom and that Ritalin prescriptions (for attention deficit disorder) have grown by 300% over the last decade? Or the fact that 1/3 of US kids live in a home in which the TV is on “always” or “most of the time”, that 80% of toys now contain an electronic component, or that tech gadgets are now the Christmas presents of choice in the US – amongst preschoolers?