Looking at Trashy Online Content May Be Bad for Your Brain

Looking at Trashy Online Content May Be Bad for Your Brain
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These days, practically everyone turns to the internet to get informed or to be entertained. And while most of us are somewhat aware of how potentially detrimental it can be health-wise to spend excessive amounts of time staring at screens, a new study suggests that the type of low-quality content we consume online by browsing social media and clickbait websites may be more of a concern than most of us would probably think.

Researchers found that the quality and complexity of what people choose to read from a variety of sources — online, books, text messages and so on — had a close correlation to the quality of their writing skills. In other words, if 90 percent of what an individual reads all day is full of internet slang, abbreviations, emojis, hashtags and sloppy spelling or grammar, then they likely won’t be capable of producing written content anywhere near the comparable quality of writing from a novelist or a professional writer.

Those who spent most of their time reading lower quality and less complex sources showed lower quality and less complex writing than those who spent their time ready high-quality sources. (CREATISTA/Shutterstock)
Those who spent most of their time reading lower quality and less complex sources showed lower quality and less complex writing than those who spent their time ready high-quality sources. CREATISTA/Shutterstock