智能手机没让我们变傻_BEC初级作文

智能手机没让我们变傻

The direst prediction offered by digital critics — our phones are really pocket-size deep fryers for the mind — may be untrue, but the alternative I’ve suggested sounds nearly as bad. The appetite for endless entertainment suggests that worthier activities will be shoved aside. We may buy Salman Rushdie’s book, but we’ll end up sucked in by Flappy Bird.

数码批评家做出了可怕的预测——手机就是一口袖珍的心智油炸锅。事实可能并非这样，但我的说法似乎也暗示着同样糟糕的事情：对娱乐的无限热衷，似乎意味着更有价值的活动将被抛到一边。我们可能会购买萨尔曼·拉什迪(Salman Rushdie)的书，结果却沉迷于玩《像素鸟》(Flappy Bird)游戏。

That doesn’t quite seem to be the case, either. Research shows, for example, that the amount of leisure reading hasn’t changed with the advent of the digital age. Before we congratulate ourselves, though, let’s acknowledge that brainier hobbies have never been that popular. There have always been ways to kill time.

情况好像也不是这样。例如，研究表明，休闲书刊阅读量似乎并没有随着数字时代的来临而改变。在祝贺自己之前，我们不妨先承认，更高雅的爱好从来都没有那么流行。打发时间的方式一直都不缺乏。

Still, digital activities may be different. Over the last decade, neuroscientists distinguished two systems of attention and associated thought. One is directed outward, as when you scroll through your email or play Candy Crush. The other is directed inward, as when you daydream, plan what you’ll do tomorrow, or reflect on the past. Clearly, most digital activities call for outwardly directed attention. These two modes of attention work like a toggle switch; when one is on, the other is off. In fact, when attention is outwardly directed, the inwardly directed attention system is somewhat suppressed. Given the amount of time people spend with digital devices, that sounds ominous.