An international team working in the field of mental health has just concluded that

the internet can produce "acute and sustained alterations" in attention, memory and
social interactions "which may be reflected in changes in the brain."

If you watch Netflix on your laptop while switching between Instagram and Facebook
on your smartphone, answering an email, and listening to music all at the same time,
you might think you’re demonstrating great dexterity.

But the researchers found the ability to carry out multiple tasks online wasn't
reflected in improvements offline, "and, in fact" they wrote, "seems to decrease this
cognitive capacity through reducing our ability to ignore distractions."

As Joseph Firth, senior research fellow at Western Sydney University, Australia, and
one of the study authors explains, "[T]he limitless stream of prompts and notifications
from the internet encourages us towards constantly holding a divided attention — which
then, in turn, may decrease our capacity for maintaining concentration on a single task."

Using functional MRI imaging, scientists have been able to see changes in brain
activity in those who engage in a great deal of media multitasking when compared with
those who don't.

Coupled with that are significant reductions in grey matter in a region linked to
impulse control, focus and decision making. (Translation: Your brain actually shrinks in
the regions devoted to those functions.)

Strategies to Reduce Internet Harmful Effects

Dr. Firth was concerned that we are observing the effects of a massive experiment
on ourselves without assessing the results, even though the internet is emerging as an
important factor in brain function -- particularly if it leads people to devote less time to
sleep and physical activity.

His colleague and fellow author Jerome Sarris was equally concerned, saying, "The
bombardment of stimuli via the internet, and the resultant divided attention commonly
experienced, presents a range of concerns.

"I believe that this, along with the increasing #Instagramification of society, has the
ability to alter both the structure and functioning of the brain, while potentially also
altering our social fabric."

To mitigate the harmful effects of the internet, Prof. Sarris advises mindfulness, a
reduced level of online multitasking, overcoming the habit of compulsively checking
social media, spending less time online in the evenings, and actually spending more
time with real, physically present people.