April 02, 2002
Thumb Olympics, Anyone? ...
People with jobs requiring specific physical activity are quick to describe the impact on their bodies. So it shouldn't come as a complete surprise that teenagers who play video games and constantly send tiny text messages to each other, have world-class thumbs.
Sadie Plant is with the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit at the University of Warwick, in Coventry, England. She's been studying the impact of technology in major urban areas around the globe where new technology has become commonplace. It turns out that the thumbs of young people have become so adept they're replacing index fingers as the instinctive finger of choice for just about everything. In fact, in Japan, they're called the "Thumb Generation."
Have you ever picked up a video game controller and tried to use it? My thumbs just don't seem to work. Hand the controller to the kid standing next to you, and you'll be astonished at what you see.
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The same is true for sending those short cell phone text messages. While only now taking hold in the U.S., "texting" has been a teenage phenomenon in Europe and Asia for some time.
Take out your cell phone and try it. Once you type a message or two, you soon realize the best way to do this is to grip the phone in both hands and use your thumbs. It's slow at first, but definitely the position of choice.
On learning of this finding, I began to surreptitiously watch my teenagers. Were they using their thumbs more? Tuning the car radio? Toasting a bagel? Asking for money? OK, so I had to stop when they began asking me, "Is everything all right, Mom?"
But that didn't keep me from wondering: we can observe and measure thumbs, but what's going on in their brains?
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Video games are a prime example. The screen can be crowded with information. The primary scene is the view of the character they've chosen to play. At the top might be graphics and data describing the state of their powers. To the right the status of other players - some are human with other game controllers, and others are played by the game itself. At the bottom might be multiple views of the 3D maze they're fighting through. And all the time, the action never stops.
The brains of these kids are able to take in this storm of graphics and numbers, plan several courses of action, react to surprises that present themselves, and translate it all seamlessly through their fingers to video game controllers with an array of buttons and mini-joysticks.
The ability of these kids to work with complex, time-pressured situations is fascinating and real.
You know, the brain is a funny thing. It's the only part of our bodies which can actually get better every day of our lives. Sure, we may start losing cells in middle age, but use it diligently, and you net out positive.
Who will these kids become? And how will they think? And seeing as how this is all happening worldwide in a single generation, what will this mean for their children?
I wonder if Darwin would care to make a guess ...
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
