Stefanie C Peters

I’m very happy to announce that I have had a new essay published over at BiblioBuffet, called “My Brain on E-books“. I summarize my (admittedly limited) knowledge of how the brain works and what happens to it when we read online, and make a connection–I hope not too far-fetched–between what reading on the Internet does to our brains and depression.

A quote to whet your appetite:

We are being conditioned, in this age of 140-character thoughts, to expect novel experiences at every turn. Our brains begin to expect that stimulation not just when we are looking at a computer screen but all the time. Instead of being able to think deeply and read deeply, even when we read offline, after a few minutes we begin itching to check email, check Facebook, play a quick game of solitaire, or tweet something. We’re like Pavlov’s dogs, except that instead of salivating only when we see our feeders, our salivary glands are stuck in the “on,” position, and the drool running down our chins is making us look pretty dumb.