Educating People About the Web Could Make Them Smarter

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Study: Educating Your Customers About the Web Could Make Them Smarter

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Using Google to search the internet is more than just good for your customers, it can make them younger and smarter!

As the brain ages, a number of structural and functional changes occur, which can impact how we process thoughts. According to a recently published study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, people who search the Internet regularly are stimulating areas of their brains, which may affect the efficiency of how the brain encodes new information.

UCLA researchers scanned the brains of 24 men and women aged 55 to 78 and discovered that the effects of web surfing lasted long after they logged off. This is "encouraging to learn that for even a relatively short period of time spent using a computer, it can result in enhanced brain activity function," says study author Dr. Gary Small. He continues, "Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading."

Translation? Those actively using the Internet had twice as much brain activity than the non-Web-savvy group.

As marketers, it is important to realize that many of your customers may not be as familiar in the ways of the Web as you are and educating your customers - no matter their age - will result in long-term gains for your company.

Now, time to teach Grandma how to Google.

Image is of Ivy Bean, the world's oldest Twitter at 105 years of age. (Courtesy of U.K.'s Daily Mail).

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Posted by Jeanne Hopkins on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 02:30 PM