http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-565207/Modern-technology-changing-way-brains-work-says-neuroscientist.html This is quite an interesting article! It brought forth an entirely new kind of issue that has existed for quite some time, yet I had never even thought about. The very valid points that the neuroscientist is talking about are pretty intimidating if you really think about them. The idea that all these new stimuli are literally changing our brains, in ways that we have no idea yet, is absolutely mind boggling. I almost don't want to believe it, because, it's well, so hard to believe. I agree that scientists most certainly need to start looking into these potential, changes in our brain, and get some answers to the outcomes of the prolonged use of these technologies to our brain, sooner rather than later, when it's too late. I also think that there should be several conversations about the speed of change and potential impact to our brains, and therefore our selves. I agree with him on a lot of the points he brought up though. The author states, "We could be raising a hedonistic generation who live only in the thrill of the computer-generated moment, and are in distinct danger of detaching themselves from what the rest of us would consider the real world." This is so close to the truth it's scary!! Too often almost everyone I know is drowned in technology, day after day, from sun up till sun down, sometime's never even coming up for air. The first thing they do is get on their phones while they walk over to their computer, in order to submerge themselves in a virtual world to start the day out! And this is happening all over the world not just with the people I know, which makes you just feel helpless and stand back in complete disbelief, to this new technology driven world that's upon us.

What worries me is that if something as innocuous as imagining a piano lesson can bring about a visible physical change in brain structure, and therefore some presumably minor change in the way the aspiring player performs, what changes might long stints playing violent computer games bring about? That eternal teenage protest of 'it's only a game, Mum' certainly begins to ring alarmingly hollow.

I found this particularly interesting, because in my Psychology class last semester I got into a intense discussion with the instructor, about how I thought that just imagining playing an instrument could actually help your skills with that instrument. She was very adamant that there could be no improvement from doing such imagining. Yet I was quite certain that this was possible because what got my playing guitar in the first place was that I watched a how play sweet child of mine video on Youtube, I basically memorized the whole intro to the song, then went and played it the next day on one of my uncle's guitars. But she didn't believe me and said I must have practiced it quite a bit before I got it. But this article proves that I was right and she was wrong, I think that is just amazing! regarding the question: is the 'real' world better, in the end, than the artificial world that mass media (everything from film/television, video games, internet) can give us? Why or why not? What would we lose, and/or gain, if we all just 'plugged in' and existed only in a virtual reality?
I'm pretty sure that the real world is better than some made up virtual world, but what I'm not so sure about is that if we continue to spend excessive amounts of time in these virtual worlds, that we will be okay coming out of them and living in the real world. The author states how our society is so consumed with engaging in activities that are for the sole purpose of bringing us pleasure. I'm also concerned about this because it seems as though everyone I know is doing just that, whether it's sitting in front of our computer and multitasking all day while reading Facebook posts, or drinking booze and smoking cigarettes. This society never steps away from the things that are bring them pleasure! And regardless of what those things are if that's how it continues to go, then what will our future generations grow up like? And what type of integrity will those generations have? What types of breakthroughs will a society that only wants to have fun come up with? It's scary if you think about it!