Internet use makes you smarter no matter your age on clarkhoward.com

Want to stay mentally sharp even in old age? Start surfing the Internet!

A team of UCLA researchers presented that revealing finding during the Society for Neuroscience's recent annual meeting. The researchers looked at a group of subjects (with an average age of nearly 67) who were not initially Internet savvy. After just two weeks of basic web surfing, the subjects' MRIs showed remarkable brain activity.

Simply getting on the information superhighway actually made them smarter!

"Their brains showed activation in portions of the superior and medial frontal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus," The Los Angeles Times reports. "Those are regions of the brain key to decision-making, working memory and interference resolution -- the skill of fending off distracting intrusions and allowing necessary ones while 'bookmarking' one's place in a task to return."

So ladies and gentlemen, start your search engines!

What others are saying

Not Smarter, Just More Informed, for Better or Worse
Use of the internet does not, by default, make a use "smarter."

There seems to be a fallacy for (average-to-low intelligence) younger users to simply "Google it" and accept search results as "research" or "the real answer" when in fact a lot of things found on the internet are highly biased, incorrect, or incomplete.

Hardly the method of intelligence.

Always take what you read or find on the internet with a 'grain of salt.'

Actually, the best quote I ever heard was "The internet makes you stupid."

Brain activity does not a thinker make! This is another fluffed-up "feel good" story.
By Micro_engineer @ 11/04/09 08:56:17 AMreport abuse
Not smarter, just more informed**********
The Internet, or actually, the World Wide Web, doesn't really make a person smarter, because so much of the use of the Internet is junk. Social sites, posted lies, and crimes can be a measure of real use.

Now, the Internet, World Wide Web, does make a person more informed but you still have to buy into various search engines to get good information on a topic, place, or person.
By The Mermaid, The Pirate and the Parrot @ 11/03/09 02:58:41 PMreport abuse
Buzz Is The Angry Retiree
Buzz hates all studies as I've learned from his past comments, he went off on Clark last time arguing that regular people were more at fault for this economic mess than the banks themselves, he's a die-hard capitalist who'd rather have a corrupt system than an honest one.

I agree with this study, my dad, 70, who had never used a pc in his life started using one about 9 months ago, he is noticeably more sharp, he remembers more and his conversations now consist of things other than his daily tv shows.
By Chris @ 11/03/09 01:36:02 PMreport abuse
What's yourr problem, Buzz?
Good grief! Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Ignoring the frank contempt, I think what you meant to say was that this was a study that started with a hypothesis and then worked to test that hypothesis. You know... that whole scientific method thing scientists use?
By Medical Student @ 11/03/09 11:37:44 AMreport abuse
Stupid
Another one of those studies that starts with a theory and then works to prove the theory.
By Buzz G @ 11/03/09 07:20:42 AMreport abuse
internet use
Now that made my day. 63 female and on the computer ALL the time.
By Jeanette @ 11/02/09 06:29:16 PMreport abuse
I knew it!
I knew that the iNterWebZ was good for something!
By beachbound @ 11/02/09 05:09:09 PMreport abuse

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Nov 02, 2009 -- Internet use makes you smarter no matter your age

What others are saying