Page - 107 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

Cyberneuroethics • 107 Ever since the beginning of the twenty-first century, an increasing number of persons have been able to access the Internet.18 At the same time, the growing use of mobile smartphones has meant that individuals can, if they so wish, be constantly connected to each other and to this network. Already by 2011, there were more devices connected to the Internet than there were people in the world.19 In this regard, younger people seem more likely to make use of Internet- based communications, with a 2011 survey in the United Kingdom noting that, amongst 16–24 year olds, 45 per cent indicated that they felt happy when they were online, 86 per cent felt that the new technology helped them communicate with people and 96% said that they accessed another media device such as a mobile phone while using the Internet.20 But in spite of these trends in hyper-connectivity, a number of households are choosing not to access the Internet for various reasons. There is also a minority of about 10 per cent (aged 17–23) who define themselves as lapsed Internet users by limiting home access and restricting resources.21 However, it is worth noting that things can get out of control in some rare instances. For example, a young 28-year-old South Korean man was reported to have died in 2005 after playing the online computer game Starcraft at an Internet cafe for fifty hours with very few breaks. The police indicated that the man had not slept properly and had eaten very little during his marathon ses- sion.22 This reflects a real risk that players may no longer contemplate doing any- thing else, which they consider less interesting, than their games  – an outlook that may represent a real challenge for an appropriate integration into society. Because of such risks, and in order to address the dangers of hyper-connec- tivity (and especially amongst young people), the South Korean Parliament eventually enacted the Shutdown law (also known as the Cinderella law) in 2011. This prohibited children under the age of sixteen playing online video games between midnight and six in the morning on the next day.23 Coping with the Amount of Information Available Since many more people are spending increasingly more time on the Internet than before, new adverse consequences are beginning to develop. For instance, individuals may no longer be able to cope with the amount of information available, thereby increasing stress and leading them to abandon certain tasks. Questions can be asked as to whether individuals in society need to know so much. Uncertainty also exists about the manner in which pupils in schools will process the amount of information they are given and how education systems may have to change. Indeed, it may be impossible to compartmentalise the information received so that a person can use it in an appropriate and ordered way. This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.