As the body’s most complex organ, each part of our brain plays a vital role in our functioning. The prefrontal cortex, located on the backside of the brain, is the area of the brain responsible for making decisions, planning behaviors, and even making up our personalities.
With recent advances in technology, individuals throughout the world are beginning to rely more and more on devices to help support decision-making. The newest technologies can help us more easily make decisions, often without us even noticing. Below, we will explore the newest ways technology can impact our brain’s decision-making processes.
Before we dive into the many ways technology can help us, it’s important to acknowledge that technological development seems like a limitless tunnel, and many are afraid of that. Of course, it may be less functional now, but in the future robots can become managers or advisers to the managers, who knows? Take the example of gaming. If you play online blackjack, the AI tools can technically make predictive analytics and try to understand the outcome of the game. Is this good? Well, it depends. Online casinos today struggle against the usage of artificial intelligence by players.
Given the ever-changing nature of technology, it’s only a matter of time before new technologies continue to offer more benefits to humans. All we need to learn is to use technology only for the good.
AI Technology
Using artificial intelligence (AI) technology can make it easier to make informed decisions and analyze data. AI technology can process large amounts of data faster than a human could do, creating predictions based on trends in the data. Using the information, individuals can more easily make decisions in both their home and work life.
Not only is AI technology helpful in helping relieve some stress on our brain’s prefrontal cortex, but it’s also applicable to many industries. From use in financial institutions to creating predictions in agricultural settings, the opportunities to use AI technology to improve our day-to-day lives are endless.
For example, you might have noticed Snapchat’s newest AI chatbot show up on the top of your app. This new feature gives Snapchat users a chance to ask questions about anything and everything. With the ability to make recommendations, answer questions, and more, this new feature has the potential to change the way we make decisions (with insight from a bot!).
Save Time Using Automated Processes
Another benefit of technology is the ability to automate boring or repetitive tasks. Not only will you save time using automation for repetitive tasks, but it alleviates the stress on your brain’s prefrontal cortex to make these necessary decisions. For example, companies once paid workers to manually enter data into large databases. Now, many businesses opt to use automated processes instead.
For businesses, using automated processes is smart move a smart move to help save money. For managers and business owners, managing a budget can be tough. By using technology to improve business operations and cut costs, owners can make decisions faster (while saving money).
Remember, business owners are not the only ones who benefit from switching to automated processes. For employees, these technology-driven processes take cumbersome tasks off their plates. Automated processes are also used in lots of other fields too, such as for email marketing and customer service-based tasks.
Gain Insight by Connecting with Others
From Skype to Facetime, video-chatting technology has completely transformed the way we connect with others. Before access to these modern technologies, individuals working on tough work tasks were left to make decisions entirely on their own. However, today’s video chatting capabilities allow us to connect with others to gain insight, no matter where they’re located in the world.
As a direct result, video chat technology helps support the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Through collaboration with a team of people, individuals benefit from real-time feedback that helps advance their work. Not only does this improve workflow and productivity, but it helps the brain’s decision-making processes greatly.
Influence through social media
With nearly 60% of the world’s population on social media, it’s not difficult to see how easily social media can impact our decision-making. From watching social content from influencers on TikTok to seeing personalized advertisements on your Instagram feed, social media greatly impacts our brain’s decision-making process. Using strategic marketing methods designed to capture our attention, we’re “influenced” in many ways, even if we do not realize it is happening.
In the time before social media, our brains were not in as much of a constant decision-making state. Today, our minds are constantly deciding what to post on social media, what “influencer recommendation” to buy, and so much more.
Final Thoughts
From AI technology to social media influencers, there’s no doubt that technology impacts our brain’s decision-making processes. While some scenarios may help make life easier, such as automated processes, other technology uses may overwhelm our brains, such as social media. With both advantages and disadvantages to consider with all technology, users must make personal choices to use the technologies that work best for them.