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Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age

Coping with Digital Distraction and Sensory Overload

Author Richard E. Cytowic

Hardcover

$34.95 US

The MIT Press

6.31"W x 9.25"H x 1.16"D | 20 oz | 12 per carton

On sale Oct 01, 2024 | 352 Pages | 9780262049009

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An award-winning neurologist on the Stone-Age roots of our screen addictions, and what to do about them.

The human brain hasn’t changed much since the Stone Age, let alone in the mere thirty years of the Screen Age. That’s why, according to neurologist Richard Cytowic—who, Oliver Sacks observed, “changed the way we think of the human brain”—our brains are so poorly equipped to resist the incursions of Big Tech: They are programmed for the wildly different needs of a prehistoric world. In Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age, Cytowic explains exactly how this programming works—from the brain’s point of view. What he reveals in this book shows why we are easily addicted to screen devices; why young, developing brains are particularly vulnerable; why we need silence; and what we can do to push back.

In the engaging storytelling style of his popular TED Talk, Cytowic draws an easily comprehensible picture of the Stone Age brain’s workings—the function of neurotransmitters like dopamine in basic instincts for survival such as desire and reward; the role of comparison in emotion, and emotion in competition; and, most significantly, the orienting reflex, one of the unconscious circuits that automatically focus, shift, and sustain attention. Given this picture, the nature of our susceptibility to digital devices becomes clear, along with the possibility of how to break their spell.

Full of practical actions that we can start taking right away, Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age offers compelling evidence that we can change the way we use technology, resist its addictive power over us, and take back the control we have lost.

Richard E. Cytowic, a pioneering researcher in synesthesia, is Professor of Neurology at George Washington University. He is the author of Synesthesia, The Man Who Tasted Shapes, The Neurological Side of Neuropsychology, and, with David M. Eagleman, the Montaigne Medal–winner Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia, all published by the MIT Press.

Richard E. Cytowic View titles by Richard E. Cytowic

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• Maldives

• Mali

• Malta

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mauritius

• Mayotte

• Mexico

• Micronesia

• Minor Outl.Ins.

• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Montserrat

• Morocco

• Mozambique

• Myanmar

• Namibia

• Nauru

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• New Zealand

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Nigeria

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• North Mariana

• Norway

• Oman

• Pakistan

• Palau

• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• PapuaNewGuinea

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Philippines

• Pitcairn Islnds

• Poland

• Portugal

• Puerto Rico

• Qatar

• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

• Rwanda

• S. Sandwich Ins

• Saint Martin

• Samoa,American

• San Marino

• SaoTome Princip

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• Sri Lanka

• St Barthelemy

• St. Helena

• St. Lucia

• St. Vincent

• St.Chr.,Nevis

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Swaziland

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tonga

• Trinidad,Tobago

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Turks&Caicos Is

• Tuvalu

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• USA

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• Vanuatu

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• Vietnam

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• Zimbabwe

Contents
Your Stone-Age Brain—3 Million BCE vs. Today
1   Engineered Addiction: Brain Drain and “Virtual” Autism
2   Selfies Kill More People Than Sharks
3   The Brain-Energy Cost of Screen Distractions
4   The Brain-Energy Cost of Multitasking
5   The Digital Difference: We Treat It Socially
6   Silence Is an Essential Nutrient
7   Your Brain Is a Hackable Change Detector
8   What Gets Caught in the Corner of Your Eye
9   Missing Critical Windows Degrades Empathy
10   How Blue Screen Light Wrecks Normal Sleep
11   Hooked in the Pursuit of Happiness
12   Pandora’s Box: How Ambivalence Keeps Us Hooked
13   iPads in the Nursery or Not?
14   Human Contact Traded for a Googlized Mind
15   The Consequences of Forced Viewing
16   Does Heavy Viewing Induce Autistic-Like Symptoms?
17   Social Learning: Kindergarten, Handwriting, and Dexterity
18   War Games: Is the Only Winning Move Not to Play?
19   Coda: Lessons from the Lockdown Years
Appendix: Keeping a Dream Diary
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index

“Cytowic's common-sense takeaway—Use technology less and only on what really matters.”
—Booklist

“This is a book that it would benefit us all to read, and heed . . . compelling to read, truly fascinating.”
—Narrative Species

About

Creators

Richard E. Cytowic View titles by Richard E. Cytowic

Available for sale exclusive:

• Afghanistan

• Aland Islands

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Anguilla

• Antarctica

• Antigua/Barbuda

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Aruba

• Australia

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahamas

• Bahrain

• Bangladesh

• Barbados

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Belize

• Benin

• Bermuda

• Bhutan

• Bolivia

• Bonaire, Saba

• Bosnia Herzeg.

• Botswana

• Bouvet Island

• Brazil

• Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter

• Brit.Virgin Is.

• Brunei

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cameroon

• Canada

• Cape Verde

• Cayman Islands

• Centr.Afr.Rep.

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Christmas Islnd

• Cocos Islands

• Colombia

• Comoro Is.

• Congo

• Cook Islands

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Cyprus

• Czech Republic

• Dem. Rep. Congo

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominica

• Dominican Rep.

• Ecuador

• Egypt

• El Salvador

• Equatorial Gui.

• Eritrea

• Estonia

• Ethiopia

• Falkland Islnds

• Faroe Islands

• Fiji

• Finland

• France

• Fren.Polynesia

• French Guinea

• Gabon

• Gambia

• Georgia

• Germany

• Ghana

• Gibraltar

• Greece

• Greenland

• Grenada

• Guadeloupe

• Guam

• Guatemala

• Guernsey

• Guinea Republic

• Guinea-Bissau

• Guyana

• Haiti

• Heard/McDon.Isl

• Honduras

• Hong Kong

• Hungary

• Iceland

• India

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Iraq

• Ireland

• Isle of Man

• Israel

• Italy

• Ivory Coast

• Jamaica

• Japan

• Jersey

• Jordan

• Kazakhstan

• Kenya

• Kiribati

• Kuwait

• Kyrgyzstan

• Laos

• Latvia

• Lebanon

• Lesotho

• Liberia

• Libya

• Liechtenstein

• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

• Macau

• Macedonia

• Madagascar

• Malawi

• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Mali

• Malta

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mauritius

• Mayotte

• Mexico

• Micronesia

• Minor Outl.Ins.

• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Montserrat

• Morocco

• Mozambique

• Myanmar

• Namibia

• Nauru

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• New Zealand

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Nigeria

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• North Mariana

• Norway

• Oman

• Pakistan

• Palau

• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• PapuaNewGuinea

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Philippines

• Pitcairn Islnds

• Poland

• Portugal

• Puerto Rico

• Qatar

• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

• Rwanda

• S. Sandwich Ins

• Saint Martin

• Samoa,American

• San Marino

• SaoTome Princip

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• Sri Lanka

• St Barthelemy

• St. Helena

• St. Lucia

• St. Vincent

• St.Chr.,Nevis

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Swaziland

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tonga

• Trinidad,Tobago

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Turks&Caicos Is

• Tuvalu

• US Virgin Is.

• USA

• Uganda

• Ukraine

• Unit.Arab Emir.

• United Kingdom

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vanuatu

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Wallis,Futuna

• West Saharan

• Western Samoa

• Yemen

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age

Coping with Digital Distraction and Sensory Overload

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Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age

Coping with Digital Distraction and Sensory Overload

About

Creators

Rights

Table of Contents

Photos

Praise

Other Books by this Author

Penguin Random House

About Comics Retail

RETAILER CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTACTS