In his 2020 book, Limitless, brain training expert Jim Kwik offers useful insights into the effects of modern technology on the brain. According to Kwik, the extent to which we now consume digital technology daily might be qualified—even by its creators—as extreme. As much of this technology is ‘so new’, Kwik contends, ‘we don’t know the level at which we need to control our interaction with it'.’

Using a biblical allusion to God’s four punishments, Kwik outlines what he calls ‘the four horsemen’ of our digital age:

Digital deluge—the exponential volume of information which now overloads the mind;
Digital distraction—the phenomenon whereby devices are now used for both work and leisure, such that our attention is rarely, if ever, disconnected from them;
Digital dementia—the fact that technology is reducing reliance on the memory, thereby causing the memory to atrophy;
Digital deduction—the outsourcing of our capacities to reflect, reason, and draw conclusions to machines, such that we are no longer exercising those faculties as we used to, and losing them.

In outlining these dangers, Kwik is careful not to denigrate ‘the light side of technology—how it can connect us, educate us, and empower us’ and ‘make our lives easier.’ Using an apt analogy to explain the dual forces of this tool, now integral to our lives, Kwik invokes a primordial one:

‘What we've just described are a few potential drawbacks of technology, which is an inherent part of all the good that it brings into our lives. Like fire, technology has changed the course of human history. However, fire can cook your food or burn your home down—it's all in how you use it. Like any tool, technology itself isn't good or bad, but we must consciously control how it's used. If we don't, then who becomes the tool? It's up to you to choose how you engage.’