Is technology affecting our intelligence? Can it have an impact on monitoring our health? Many suggest that children or adults who play video games are experiencing negative effects on their brain, thus impacting their intelligence and behavior. However, studies actually show that to be false.

It is also often thought that having access to so much technology at our fingertips and things such as spell check are making individuals dumber. In fact, the access to technology is making individuals process material in new and different ways. No longer is it key to memorize information, but it is key to be able to know how to find the information. Individuals now have access to most anything they wish to know and understand by simply knowing where or how to find it.

Technology is also having profound effects on health care and how patients are diagnosed and treated for ailments. Diabetes monitoring for example now stores blood levels over periods of time and analyzes the information for doctors review. Rumors are rampant that Apple has hopes to incorporate many healthcare related aspects into the yet to be released iWatch. It is reported that Apple recently hired a renowned audio engineer to assist in developing software for the iWatch that would monitor your blood and alert you of an impending heart attack before it happened, thus increasing your chances of getting immediate and potentially live-saving medical attention.

Recent studies also show how video games are affecting our health. The article from Business Insider shows how certain video games can have major impacts on memory skills in older adults, improve decision-making time, improve vision and also assist surgeons to improve their surgical skills, among many other things. Sure, too much of anything is not good for anyone. So sitting around for hours playing games could increase the odds of obesity, etc. But the fact it is that video games have many positive effects on our health and intelligence.

Many people who view technology and or video games as a deterrent or bad for us simply are in my opinion unwilling to embrace it and see the possibilities it presents us with. Sure, I am not thrilled that my kid's spelling skills are not as good as mine were as a child. But one thing I can tell you is that without a doubt I believe my children are smarter at their respective ages than I was because of technology. They can learn in depth about anything they choose. They can do tutorials online if they are struggling in a subject. They can learn skills like computer programming online when they are not offered in school. By reading digitally they have access to dictionaries simply by highlighting a word.

The possibilities for modern technology are endless. Whether they are retraining our brains to learn things in a new way or teaching us new skills. Or technology could assist in life-saving medical attention simply by monitoring our bodies and communicating with our doctors real time if we so choose. People need to stop assuming that spending time doing something via technology is a bad thing and try it out and embrace the possibilities of the future.

What do you think about the possibilities of a watch that could help prevent a heart attack? Or how about video games that might be able to help burn victims cope with pain? Would you wear a watch that communicated with your doctors about health ailments you might have? I for one would use these items, how about you??