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Not long ago, I sat in a restaurant and noticed a table of pre-teens gathered together. Their food was on the way, but instead of talking or laughing, every one of them bent silently over a phone. Their fingers scrolled in unison, eyes flickering with the shifting glow of the screens. It was as if the devices were the real dinner companions, while the humans sat quietly in parallel. I found myself wondering what this scene says about how the developing brain is learning to inhabit the world.
Neurologist and scholar Maryanne Wolf (2007, 2018) has written eloquently about the reading brain, reminding us that literacy is not innate. The human brain repurposes its circuits for deep reading, an achievement that allows us to analyze, infer, and empathize. But like muscles that atrophy without use, these capacities require practice. The digital world, by contrast, trains us to skim, swipe, and seek novelty. What is gained in speed and agility may come at the expense of patience, focus, and reflective thought.
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