Listening to too much complaining is bad for your brain in multiple ways. The brain works more like a muscle than we thought, So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well.
Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity, including viewing such material on TV actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."
But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint.
Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint."
So, how do you defend yourself and your brain from negativity?
Get some distance
You should look at complaining the same way, he says. "The approach I've always taken with complaining is to think of it as the same as passive smoking." Your brain will thank you if you get yourself away from the complainer, if you can.
Ask the complainer to fix the problem
Try to get the person who's complaining to take responsibility for a solution. Respond to a complaint with, 'What are you going to do about it?'" Many complainers walk away huffily at that point.
Imagine Your Favorite Spot!
A strategy is to mentally retreat to your favorite holiday spot, someplace you'd go if you could wave a magic wand. take yourself to your private retreat while people were ranting and raving and keep smiling at them and nod in all the right places and meanwhile take a peaceful walk on your "private beach."
- Team Shirsa
A recent study in the journal Pediatrics extended the concern over the impact of the amount of time kids spend on video games in addition to television. Many studies had shown a link between time spent on television and difficulty focusing and paying attention in class. This newer study tracked over 1,300 kids in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades for over a year and extended the association between time spent not just on television but also on video games and difficulty paying attention.
The report’s conclusion is:
“Viewing television and playing video games each are associated with increased subsequent attention problems in childhood. It seems that a similar association among television, video games, and attention problems exists in late adolescence and early adulthood.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation is that children spend no more than 2 hours per day with television and video games combined. The study found that the median exposure of these children was almost four hours and that there was as much of an impact on reported attention problems for television viewing as for video game playing.
And the report went on to say:
“Those who exceeded the AAP-recommended amount of daily television and video game exposure were more likely to be above average in attention problems …”
Why might this be the case? The brain becomes trained to expect the level of engagement and activity based on exposure to its environment. Spending significant amounts of time interacting with content that moves at a pace faster than what a child would have in the classroom will make the class experience less interesting.
- Team Shirsa
