HOW SOCIAL MEDIA OVERLOAD REDUCES YOUR CAPACITY TO PROCESS INFORMATION

過度使用社交媒體會削弱你處理信息的能力

Social media networks are weapons of mass distraction.

社交網絡是一個讓人分心的大利器。

Each day we are inundated with a flood of information from social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

我們每天都被淹沒在來自臉書、推特、谷歌+的信息洪流中。

Even if you didn’t have to work, eat or sleep, you wouldn’t be able to get through all the information being shared by your friends and colleagues on blogs and social networks.

即使你不用工作、吃飯、睡覺，你也看不完你同學和同事在各種播客和社交媒體上發布的東西。

The problem we face is that much of this information grabs our attention and seems very interesting at first glance.

而我們面對的問題是，這些東西的確會吸引我們的注意力，而且乍看之下似乎都挺有趣。

At the same time, much of the information is also unimportant, disposable and it distracts us from more meaningful pursuits.

但同時，這其中的大部分信息都是不重要的、可有可無的，而它們都在阻止我們去做更有意義的事。

To make matters worse, when we spend a lot of time consuming information from our social media streams, we have tendency to forget what we have consumed anyway.

更糟的是，當我們在社交媒體的信息流上花太多時間時，我們很容易忘掉我們看了什么。

The name for this tendency to forget is the Google Effect. In a nutshell, researchers have found that we have a tendency to forget information that can be easily found using Internet search engines like Google.

這種傾向的名字叫做谷歌效應。簡單講就是：研究者發現我們特別容易忘記那些能輕易在谷歌這樣的搜索引擎上搜到的東西。

How Social Media Overload Affects Your Brain:

過度使用社交媒體是如何影響你的大腦的：

A new study from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology has found that too much social media exposure actually reduces your capacity to process information and depletes your short-term working memory.

瑞典KTH王家技術學院發現：過度暴露在社交媒體之下會削弱你處理信息的能力并會耗盡你的短期工作記憶。

Our working memory plays a critical role in our ability to filter information and remember what is valuable but it is also a limited resource.

我們的工作記憶在篩選信息、記住重要東西的時候是至關重要的，但它是一種非常有限的資源。

Erik Fransén, a Professor in Computer Science at KTH and the leader of this new study on social media overload, explains in detail:

這項關于社交媒體過度的研究，由埃里克·弗朗森主導，他是KTH的一位計算機科學教授，他詳細解釋到：

“At any given time, the working memory can carry up to three or four items. When we attempt to stuff more information in the working memory, our capacity for processing information begins to fail.

“在任何時候，工作記憶都只能記住3到4個東西。當你企圖在工作記憶中塞入更多信息時，我們處理信息的能力就會衰減。

When you are on Facebook, you are making it harder to keep the things that are ‘online’ in your brain that you need.

當你在刷臉書的時候，你會讓自己更難記住腦中那些你需要記得的東西。

In fact, when you try to process sensory information like speech or video, you are going to need partly the same system of working memory, so you are reducing your own working memory capacity.

事實上，當你需要處理演講、視頻這種感官信息的時候，你在一定程度上需要用到和工作記憶同樣的系統，所以你是在削弱自己的工作記憶能力。

And when you try to store many things in your working memory, you get less good at processing information.”

而當你想在工作記憶當中存儲很多東西的時候，你處理它們的能力就不那么好了。”

Ultimately, the brain is designed for periods of both activity and relaxation.

說到底，大腦既需要工作也需要休息。

It is the periods of relaxation and downtime — preferably disconnected from the distractions of your computer or smartphone — that are needed for memory consolidation and transferring important information to your long-term memory.

而正是這些休息時間——最好是暫時離開你的電腦和智能手機——讓你的記憶得以鞏固，并把重要的信息傳輸到長期記憶當中。

So, how can you take your brain offline? I recommend taking regular 5-minute breaks every hour to relax and temporarily reduce your exposure to new information.

所以，你要如何才能讓自己的大腦下線呢？我建議每過1小時就定時休息5分鐘，并暫時減少自己所接受的新信息量。

You can do a quick meditation, go for a short walk or spend a few minutes listening to music.

你可以做一次快速的冥想，去散散步，或者聽幾分鐘音樂。

This will help you improve your capacity to process information and increase your productivity.

這能幫助你提高自己處理信息的能力，并能增強你的創造力。

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA OVERLOAD REDUCES YOUR CAPACITY TO PROCESS INFORMATION

過度使用社交媒體會削弱你處理信息的能力

Social media networks are weapons of mass distraction.

社交網絡是一個讓人分心的大利器。

Each day we are inundated with a flood of information from social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

我們每天都被淹沒在來自臉書、推特、谷歌+的信息洪流中。

Even if you didn’t have to work, eat or sleep, you wouldn’t be able to get through all the information being shared by your friends and colleagues on blogs and social networks.

即使你不用工作、吃飯、睡覺，你也看不完你同學和同事在各種播客和社交媒體上發布的東西。

The problem we face is that much of this information grabs our attention and seems very interesting at first glance.

而我們面對的問題是，這些東西的確會吸引我們的注意力，而且乍看之下似乎都挺有趣。

At the same time, much of the information is also unimportant, disposable and it distracts us from more meaningful pursuits.

但同時，這其中的大部分信息都是不重要的、可有可無的，而它們都在阻止我們去做更有意義的事。

To make matters worse, when we spend a lot of time consuming information from our social media streams, we have tendency to forget what we have consumed anyway.

更糟的是，當我們在社交媒體的信息流上花太多時間時，我們很容易忘掉我們看了什么。

The name for this tendency to forget is the Google Effect. In a nutshell, researchers have found that we have a tendency to forget information that can be easily found using Internet search engines like Google.

這種傾向的名字叫做谷歌效應。簡單講就是：研究者發現我們特別容易忘記那些能輕易在谷歌這樣的搜索引擎上搜到的東西。

How Social Media Overload Affects Your Brain:

過度使用社交媒體是如何影響你的大腦的：

A new study from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology has found that too much social media exposure actually reduces your capacity to process information and depletes your short-term working memory.

瑞典KTH王家技術學院發現：過度暴露在社交媒體之下會削弱你處理信息的能力并會耗盡你的短期工作記憶。

Our working memory plays a critical role in our ability to filter information and remember what is valuable but it is also a limited resource.

我們的工作記憶在篩選信息、記住重要東西的時候是至關重要的，但它是一種非常有限的資源。

Erik Fransén, a Professor in Computer Science at KTH and the leader of this new study on social media overload, explains in detail:

這項關于社交媒體過度的研究，由埃里克·弗朗森主導，他是KTH的一位計算機科學教授，他詳細解釋到：

“At any given time, the working memory can carry up to three or four items. When we attempt to stuff more information in the working memory, our capacity for processing information begins to fail.

“在任何時候，工作記憶都只能記住3到4個東西。當你企圖在工作記憶中塞入更多信息時，我們處理信息的能力就會衰減。

When you are on Facebook, you are making it harder to keep the things that are ‘online’ in your brain that you need.

當你在刷臉書的時候，你會讓自己更難記住腦中那些你需要記得的東西。

In fact, when you try to process sensory information like speech or video, you are going to need partly the same system of working memory, so you are reducing your own working memory capacity.

事實上，當你需要處理演講、視頻這種感官信息的時候，你在一定程度上需要用到和工作記憶同樣的系統，所以你是在削弱自己的工作記憶能力。

And when you try to store many things in your working memory, you get less good at processing information.”

而當你想在工作記憶當中存儲很多東西的時候，你處理它們的能力就不那么好了。”

Ultimately, the brain is designed for periods of both activity and relaxation.

說到底，大腦既需要工作也需要休息。

It is the periods of relaxation and downtime — preferably disconnected from the distractions of your computer or smartphone — that are needed for memory consolidation and transferring important information to your long-term memory.

而正是這些休息時間——最好是暫時離開你的電腦和智能手機——讓你的記憶得以鞏固，并把重要的信息傳輸到長期記憶當中。

So, how can you take your brain offline? I recommend taking regular 5-minute breaks every hour to relax and temporarily reduce your exposure to new information.

所以，你要如何才能讓自己的大腦下線呢？我建議每過1小時就定時休息5分鐘，并暫時減少自己所接受的新信息量。

You can do a quick meditation, go for a short walk or spend a few minutes listening to music.

你可以做一次快速的冥想，去散散步，或者聽幾分鐘音樂。

This will help you improve your capacity to process information and increase your productivity.

這能幫助你提高自己處理信息的能力，并能增強你的創造力。