By Mark Rahner

Stand down: “Digital immigrants” don’t require digital minutemen to patrol any borders.

Neuroscientist Gary Small will explain why Thursday evening in his Town Hall Seattle presentation, “Technology is Changing Your Brain.” Small says “immigrants” are the ones who remember a time before the cellphones and laptop computers that are actually rewiring the way we think.

I plugged in and synced with the author of “iBrain — Surviving the Technological Alternation of the Modern Mind” (Harper, $16.99) and director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center — for an interview that really did take a brain surgeon.

Q: You claim technology has altered our brains. Explain how, but briefly, because my attention span isn’t what it used to be.

A: Brains are remarkable organs. They respond to all kinds of stimuli from moment to moment. And one principle that’s important to grasp is that if we repeat a mental activity over and over again the neurocircuits that control that experience will strengthen. If we neglect experiences the circuits controlling those experiences will weaken. Because young people are spending so much time with the technology, it’s altering their brain neurocircuitry. They’re becoming very adept at technology but the old school face-to-face human-contact skills, those communications skills, the neurocircuits controlling that are weakening.

Q: It seems you’re simply validating common sense — except with research and charts.

A: Yes. I mean intuitively it makes sense. We’re all observing this but in terms of the neuroscience we’re a little bit ahead of the curve. I wrote iBrain, I was struck by how little direct data there were. Basically I tried to pull together information from education, anthropology, neuroscience, to make some sense of it. But in terms of studies, looking at how the brain responds to the technology, there was very little.

Q: You claim the changes are faster than any time since man learned how to use tools. So my question: If handed an iPhone, would primitive man smash it with a bone?

A: (Laughs.) In a sense, our brains are evolving from moment to moment because the neurocircuits are altering and the chemistry is altering. In our “Brain on Google” study, we found in a matter of a week searching online for an hour a day we could have significant change in brain neurocircuits. On average, young people are spending 11 hours with their technology if you count it up with multi-tasking time. So that’s a lot of exposure. In terms of true evolution, in terms of Darwinian evolution, that takes a bit longer. But I still would argue that this is a very rapid change.

Q: Hasn’t the massive increase of communication technology and social networking ironically made people less articulate? OMG! LOL!

A: You know, it’s interesting because we have a new lexicon that young people have in large part developed, and that’s fine because we know the youthful brain is very adept at learning languages. So in some senses, yes, it’s training our brains to think differently. We’re now becoming information gatherers rather than thinkers. We don’t ponder on thoughts, we just know where we can get that information. We don’t memorize stuff, we just know how to find the stuff.

Q: I don’t think futurists like Arthur C. Clarke envisioned people incessantly posting about their meals, what they’re watching and when they go to bed. Is preposterous self-absorption another result of the technology explosion?

A: I think we’re seeing that. I think with Twitter and IMing (instant messaging) and the texting and social networking, basically what we’re doing, we’re pushing into high gear everything that is human, everything that we like. We like to be connected, so we’re using these devices to stay connected, and that’s fine. The downside is that we’re not as individualistic. We may be less creative. How do you become creative? You have to think outside the box. If every new idea you have you vet instantaneously with your friends online, it’s going to be shot down. You’re not going to have a chance to really look into it. So we’re sacrificing depth but we’re getting breadth.

Q: I’m not sure I like the trade-off. What’s the “brain gap”?

A: The brain gap is the new kind of generation gap between digital natives and digital immigrants. So my generation, I’m a digital immigrant. I came to all this technology later in life. I had more time in my past learning human contact skills, how to look someone in the eye when I have a conversation, how to notice nonverbal cues during that conversation. I’m a little slower adapting to new technology. I’m not used to the pace of innovation. The digital natives are younger people who have grown up in a world of 24-7 technology, they’re used to the multi-tasking, so their brains are wired differently. They’re not as good at the face-to-face communication skills.

Q: You say 20 percent of young people suffer from Pathological Internet Use. That seems like a low number

A: This is a huge issue. I’ve been going to colleges and talking with the faculty and the students, and a lot of the faculty cannot get the students to stop texting during class. One professor says that she gives them a five-minute texting break halfway through the class and she finds that it’s easier to control — which to me is just extraordinary.

Q: I’ve been tweeting, texting and updating Facebook while we were talking.

A: Really? Well, good.