“Lazy brain” as an effect of digital technology mediation

Abstract

The article examines the effect of digital mediation, which has acquired the metaphorical name “lazy brain”. The main problem is linked to the ambiguity of delegating human cogni­tive functions to digital interactions. The aim of the article is to contrast, on the one hand, the partnership with “smart” devices that lure with cognitive offloading capabilities, and on the other, the negative consequences leading to infantilization of the brain. The author discussesthe phenomenon of “external memory”, the processes of digital dementia and learned helplessness; the attempts to justify AI hallucinations, and the specifics of the “AI lexicon” are analyzed. The methodological strategy relies on a systemic approach to digital mediation processes and includes a person-centered measurement. The study is based on a comparative analysis of contemporary positions of domestic and international scholars. The conceptua­lization procedure of the obtained generalizations takes on particular importance. The con­clusion is substantiated that involvement in digital interactions faces the necessity of “digital minimalism”. Constant connectivity to digital technologies, close partnership with “smart devices”, and the “external memory” effect do not ensure an enhancement of an individual’s cognitive abilities; on the contrary, the AI system, by handling all requests, diminishes their cognitive skills. Neurophysiological deformations and transformations of cognitive activity, with a dominance of information scanning, lead to underdevelopment of foundational cogni­tive operations: the ability to separate the main from the secondary, to determine grounds for comparison, to identify cause-and-effect relationships, and to recognize problematic situa­tions. The optimization of modern life activities based on digital mediation requires clarifi­cation of the risks of cognitive self-inflation arising from delegating one’s own cognitive processes to a computer.