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The Cognition Crisis

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The Cognition Crisis

Anxiety. Depression. ADHD. Dementia. The human brain is in trouble. Technology is a cause — and a solution.

Medium,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Depression, anxiety and dementia are on the rise. Can technology solve problems it helped create?

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Applicable
  • Visionary

Recommendation

You inherited an insatiable thirst for information. It’s a trait that’s kept humans alive for millennia, but the advent of information technology turned the trickle of information your brain evolved to devour into an overwhelming flood. The bad news is that the flood is drowning your prefrontal cortex. Adam Gazzaley – a professor of neurology and psychiatric physiology – calls the correlated rises in depression, anxiety and dementia a “cognition crisis.” Could the technology that produced the problem also provide the solution? getAbstract recommends Gazzaley’s timely article to the parents, doctors and technologists who might save the population from serious cognitive decline.

Summary

Rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety and dementia are rising and present a hazard to humanity. The rise in dementia is expected; it reflects the growing numbers of the elderly. More worrisome is the epidemic of attention and emotional disorders in the young. The education and medical professions are well-placed to address this crisis, but before they do, they must address five institutional incompetencies:

  1. Inadequate assessments – Making no assessment or using...

About the Author

Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, is a professor of neurology and psychiatry physiology at UCSF. He founded and directs Neuroscape and cofounded Akili Interactive, JAZZ VP and Sensync.

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