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That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user’s IQ.
This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavourably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have labelled the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced stupidity as “infomania”.
Research on sleep deprivation suggests that the IQ drop caused by electronic obsession is also equivalent to a wakeful night.
Infomania is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men, the study commissioned by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has concluded.
The noticeable drop in IQ is attributed to the constant distraction of “always on” technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the task in hand.
Workers lose productivity by interrupting a business meeting and disrupt social gatherings because of their infirmity, the report said.
The brain also finds it hard to cope with juggling lots of tasks at once, reducing its overall effectiveness, it added. And while modern technology can have huge benefits, excessive use can be damaging not only to a person’s mind, but to their social life.
Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ deterioration and 1,100 adults were interviewed.
More than six in ten (62 per cent) of people polled admit that they were addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages so assiduously that they scrutinised work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an email and one in five (21 per cent) will interrupt a meeting to do so.
Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues, increasing stress and dissenting feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude. Yet one in three Britons believes that it is not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.
The effects on IQ were studied by Dr Glenn Wilson, a University of London psychologist, as part of the research project.
“This is a very real and widespread phenomenon,” he said. “We have found that infomania, if unchecked, will damage a worker’s performance by reducing their mental sharpness.
“Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.”
The report suggests that firms who give employees gadgets and devices to help them keep in touch from wherever they might be should also produce guidelines on use.
These “best practice tips” including using “dead time”, such as travelling time, to read messages and check e-mails and turning devices off in meetings. David Smith, commercial manager of Hewlett Packard, said: “The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour ‘always on’ society.
“This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses.”
He said that although the company produced such technology, it was similar to a motor manufacturer making a 150mph sports car and telling drivers to stick within speed limits.
He added: “Similarly, ‘always on’ technology has proven productivity benefits but people need to use it responsibly. We know that technology makes us more effective, but we also know that misuse of technology can be counter-productive.”
[Via - Times Online]
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Regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Students Plagarize Honor Code | Weird Facts
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SAN ANTONIO - Their goal was an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagiarizing.
However, the wording in a draft by students at the University of Texas at San Antonio appears to match another school's code - without proper attribution.
The student currently in charge of the honor code project said it was an oversight, but cheating experts say it illustrates a sloppiness among Internet-era students who don't know how to cite sources properly and think of their computers as cut-and-paste machines.
"That's the consequence of the Internet and the availability of things," said Daniel Wueste, director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University. "It doesn't feel like what would be in a book. You Google it and here it comes."
Student Akshay Thusu said that when he took over the project a month ago he inherited a draft by earlier project participants, including a group of students who attended a conference five years ago put on by The Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson.
Materials from the conference, which are used by many universities, were probably the main source of UTSA's proposed code, Thusu said. That's why parts of the Texas draft match word-for-word the online version of Brigham Young University's code.
BYU credited the Center for Academic Integrity, but the San Antonio draft doesn't.
That will change, said Thusu, who plans to include proper citation and attribution when the draft is submitted to the faculty senate.
"We don't want to have an honor code that is stolen," Thusu said.
[Via - AZCentral.Com]
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Millionaire goes back to McDonald's job | Weird Facts
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A lottery winner has gone back to his old job serving burgers at McDonald's.
Luke Pittard, 25, shared a $2.85 million jackpot with his girlfriend 18 months ago.
After taking a break Pittard, who has since married his partner, has decided to go back to his old job part-time, where he earns just $192.40 for 15 hours' work a week.
Pittard, dubbed the McMillionaire, said: "I loved my work at McDonald's before I won the money, and I'm really enjoying being back there again.
"There are so many familiar faces that it was like coming back to a group of old friends.
"To be honest, there's only so much relaxing you can do. I'm only young and a bit of hard work never did anyone any harm."
[Via - News.Com.Au]
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Restaurant gives 25 percent discount for bugs found in food | Weird Facts
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DUBAI (Reuters) - A group celebrating a birthday at a Dubai diner were cheered by a 25 percent discount but not necessarily the reason: "Bug on food."
The restaurant cut the bill for seven customers at a birthday dinner after they found four insects crawling around their meals, the Gulf News reported on Tuesday.
"We were surprised when the receipt said 'bug on food' as a reason for the discount. I think they were trying to be funny," it quoted one of the disgruntled customers as saying.
An official at the restaurant defended the phrase saying it was "an inappropriate detail," the paper reported.
"It was a misunderstanding from our side -- the guys thought being friendly and having a joke about the environment would relax the diners because it was a birthday, but unfortunately it didn't," he added.
[Via - Reuters]
Lawsuit Settled Over Stolen Virtual Sex Toys In 'Second Life'
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Lawsuit Settled Over Stolen Virtual Sex Toys In 'Second Life' | Weird Facts
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TAMPA, Fla. -- A legal dispute over the theft of virtual sex toys has resulted in a real-life slap on the wrist. A federal judge accepted the settlement Thursday of a lawsuit filed last year against a Texas man accused of stealing sex toys developed for the online world, "Second Life."
According to the settlement, Robert Leatherwood agreed not to copy, display or distribute any items sold by Eros LLC, a Tampa Bay-area company that creates virtual sex scripts in the "Second Life" universe. Leatherwood must also disclose the e-mail addresses of anyone he knows had access to his "Second Life" persona, known as "Volkov Catteneo."
The settlement does not involve money or any admission of wrongdoing, court documents show. It effectively ends the suit filed last year by Eros' owner, Kevin Alderman, of Lutz. He sued to stop the unauthorized distribution of Eros creations, which allow "Second Life" users to equip their online personas, known as avatars, with realistic genitalia. Products also allow users to engage in various sexual actions in the online world.
Francis Taney, a Pennsylvania attorney representing Eros, said the case remains one of the first real-world legal fights involving two "Second Life" users over their online conduct. The other is a New York case Taney filed on behalf of Eros. Reached at his grandmother's home in North Richland Hills, Texas, Leatherwood acknowledged he sold Eros products, but said the whole case had been overblown.
"I did it in private," he said. "I wasn't out to do a huge market thing. I was doing it for a little bit of money." Leatherwood said he agreed to settle the case because he is 19 and didn't have money for an attorney. He said he stopped selling Eros products online a year ago, and he rarely uses "Second Life" anymore. He said the whole case was "ridiculous," and likely cost Alderman thousands of dollars. He also said he thought it would be hard to hold him liable. "He had no evidence or proof of anything I did," Leatherwood said. Taney said Alderman is "moving on." He scoffed at Leatherwood's contention that there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the case, noting that he had previously publicly denied he sold Eros items. "Out of a nation of 300 million people, we tracked the kid down to his living room in North Richland Hills, Texas," Taney said.
While the case doesn't create legal precedent, Taney said it does seem to transfer some real-world principles to the online universe. "This is a technology that has to be dealt with by lawyers, by business people, by regular citizens," Taney said. "I think it fits quite nicely into existing concepts."
[Via - WFTV.Com]
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
Oprah show sued over 'seat rush' | Weird Facts
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A woman has sued the company behind Oprah Winfrey's TV chat show, claiming she was injured when audience members rushed to find seats at a recording.
Orit Greenberg has demanded $50,000 (£25,100) in damages after allegedly being pushed down a flight of stairs.
She said this caused her "severe and permanent injuries" and claimed the crowd in the studio was not properly controlled by Harpo Studios staff.
The production company declined to comment on her allegations.
Harpo Studios told the Associated Press it did not make statements about impending legal cases.
Ms Greenberg claimed she was hurt in December 2006 while attending a recording of the programme in the US city of Chicago.
Audience members were told to sit wherever they wanted, which led to the rush, according to the legal documents she has filed.
[Via - BBC]
Man Gets Stolen Mustang Back 38 Years Later
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Man Gets Stolen Mustang Back 38 Years Later | Weird Facts
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(AP) LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man is getting his stolen Mustang back _ 38 years after it was stolen. The vehicle has an extra 300,000 miles and a different paint job, but Eugene Brakke’s 1965 Mustang is evidently running just fine.
Brakke reported the car stolen to Burbank police in May 1970.
One month later, a Long Beach teenager named Judy Smongesky received the car as a high school graduation gift from her father, who had bought it at a Bellflower used car dealer.
Smongesky, who now lives in San Diego, said Thursday she had been driving and maintaining the car for nearly four decades, and only learned that it had been stolen when she recently prepared to sell it. San Diego police verified the car was hot.
"It’s his car, even though he had it for four years and I had it for 38," Smongesky said. "He seems like a real nice gentleman, though."
Brakke found out Smongesky had twice rebuilt the engine and painted the Mustang from its old gold color to silver-blue.
"He wasn’t too happy with that," Smongesky said.
The pair planned to meet up to transfer the car soon.
"It was hard but it was the right thing to do," Smongesky said. "I haven’t really cried yet, but when he drives it away, I think I’ll fall apart."
[Via - KOB.Com]
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