Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, admits she, too, has a hard time resisting the call of her BlackBerry. “On vacation, I look at it even though I don’t need to,” she says. “Or I take a walk with my husband and I can’t resist the urge to check my e-mail. I feel guilty, but I do it.”
She explains that constant stimulation can activate dopamine cells in the nucleus accumbens, a main pleasure center of the brain.
Over time, and with enough Internet usage, the structure of our brains can actually physically change, according to a new study. Researchers in China did MRIs on the brains of 18 college students who spent about 10 hours a day online.
Compared with a control group who spent less than two hours a day online, these students had less gray matter, the thinking part of the brain. The study was published in the June issue of PLoS ONE, an online journal.
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