Five Impressive Discoveries From "Insta-Brain"
How many hours a day do we spend using our smartphones? According to
Insta-Brain (original Swedish title: Skärmhjärnan), four hours for adults
and four to
Insta-Brain gave me many insights into how our brains influence our behaviors. In this post, I wish to tell you five of the most impressive discoveries from the book.
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| Photo by William Hook on Unsplash |
Our brains have changed little since ancient times.
This is the consistent message of the book. Given the history of our species since its emergence 200,000 years ago, smartphones, the Internet, and social networking have only recently become commonplace, or rather, just a few moments ago. It is not possible for the human brain to suddenly change to adapt to smartphones, the Internet, and SNS in such a short period. In other words, we live in a modern society with almost the same brain as when we were the last hunter-gatherers.
For example, it is only recently, considering the history of humankind, that many people living in cities no longer have to worry about eating. In our ancestors' era, however, people did not know when they could find food. The individuals who were able to survive better in such a situation were not those who, when they found food, ate as much of it as they needed but those who ate as much as they could. So, even today, even people with abundant food eat more than they need because of the remnants of the past, and as a result, they suffer from obesity.
It was worth reading Insta-Brain to understand that our brains have yet to adapt to modern society. The main point of this book is that our brains have mostly stayed the same since our ancestors' time, which causes problems today, and that by understanding this, we can deal with the issues. Of the five discoveries, the following four can all be explained by this fact.
Being negative was an advantage for our ancestors.
Our ancestors lived in a world with many more threats than hopes. They had to deal with threats immediately, even if it resulted in postponing or giving up a joyful event. Otherwise, they would die.
If our ancestors saw a fierce beast, they had to immediately run, hide, or fight with all their might, even if they were eating, mating, or sleeping. Otherwise, they would be attacked by the beast. They could survive for now, even if they lacked food or sleep.
On the other hand, they would be unable to stay alive if a beast attacked them. That is why being negative was more advantageous for our ancestors than being optimistic regarding survival possibilities. That is why even today, we tend to be negative.
Learning about that from the book, it became clear to me why we are prone to be negative. Though, as the book says, negative feelings are not entirely wrong, understanding that it is inherently difficult for us to be positive can help us avoid thinking too negatively.
While moderate stress is necessary, long-lasting one is unexpected.
As previously mentioned, our ancestors lived in a world where fatal danger is everywhere. When they faced a threat, they needed to react instantly. And stress was helpful because it turned on fight-or-flight mode, which enabled our ancestors to deal with fatal situations. The same thing goes for us living today. Tension is still necessary for us. Once stressed, our fight-or-flight mode becomes on; we can concentrate and sharpen our thinking better than usual.
However, the problem is that we are not designed to be stressed for a long time. In addition, many things, such as work deadlines and expensive mortgages, make us feel somewhat stressed or anxious for a long time. It often results in mental disorders.
I found two takeaways from this fact about stress:
- Stress is not what I should avoid. I had negative thoughts about stress, so I tried to avoid it as much as possible. After reading this book, however, I have come to think of stress as a performance enhancer.
- I should get long-lasting stress away before it becomes too late. It may sound contradictory to the former, but it is not. Everlasting tension is beyond our expectations, so our brains cannot handle it properly. Keeping the fact – that we are not designed to be stressed for a long time – in mind will help me avoid learned helplessness or actual mental disorder.
We are excited by the anticipation that comes from uncertainty.
According to Insta-Brain, we are more motivated to do things that might give us good experiences. The author says this is because our ancestors lived in a world where food was not always available everywhere, and wanting things with uncertainty was helpful. Those who were unsure if it was really there but still looked in different places to find food were more likely to survive than those who did not try to look for food unless they knew for sure it was there.
Then, how about a smartphone? Yes, it is filled with expectations of what might happen. New unread messages might have arrived. We might find some funny videos on SNS apps. That is why smartphones lure us.
Yes, I realized that is precisely why I could not have reduced my smartphone time and have quitted playing mobile games easily. I unconsciously picked up my smartphone to see if I got new messages or interesting posts. A smartphone game was too exciting for me to quit because the gacha system – from which I could get items randomly – was full of excitement of uncertainty. If I had read Insta-Brain earlier, I would not have had as much struggle!
What I Tried To Spend Less Time On Smartphone
Do you want to reduce your smartphone time? In this post, I'll share what made me spend less time distracted by my smartphone and what didn't.
The Things That Made Me Quit Mobile Game
I used to be addicted to a mobile game. I struggled to get out of it. I'll share what I've learned through the process of quitting the mobile game.
Moving our bodies is good medicine.
Surprisingly, moving our bodies is good for our brains, not only for our physical health. Moving our bodies helps us improve concentration.
The book explains that that is because it is when moving around that our ancestors should have been most concentrated. It is because they usually ran after their prey or away from the enemy when they were on the move.
Moving our bodies also makes us feel less stressed or anxious. Those who moved their bodies frequently were more likely to get physically stronger. Those who were physically strong were more likely to be able to deal with challenging situations and, as a consequence, were less likely to feel stressed or anxious.
Of course, these also apply to people living today. That is why moving our bodies is good medicine for our brains. The detail is discussed in The Real Happy Pill: Power Up Your Brain by Moving Your Body, another book by the author of Insta-Brain.
Reading "The Real Happy Pill" And "The Real Happy Pill Junior"
The book "The Real Happy Pill" says physical activities boost our brains. I've run and found it's good. I'll show you how good, with my experience.
After learning about that, I started running for around 10 minutes a day, almost every day. As the book says, I can feel that running makes my head clear and makes my negative emotions fade away. Exercise is worth trying if you want to do something good for your brain.
In this post, I explained five impressive discoveries from Insta-Brain. The five things mentioned above are ones I was particularly interested in. But other than those, there are a lot of takeaways, so I recommend Insta-Brain if you have not yet read that!
