Module 4: Articles on Dangers of Technology

While he managed to salvage the $1.3 million deal after apologizing to his suitor, Mr. Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of the deluge of data.

Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets.

And players of some video games develop better visual acuity.

They shrink distances and handle countless mundane tasks, freeing up time for more exciting pursuits.

But researchers say the habits and struggles of Mr. Campbell and his family typify what many experience—and what many more will, if trends continue.

He and Mrs. Campbell, 39, head to the tidy kitchen in their four-bedroom hillside rental in Orinda, an affluent suburb of San Francisco, where she makes breakfast and watches a TV news feed in the corner of the computer screen while he uses the rest of the monitor to check his e-mail.

Researchers say there is an evolutionary rationale for the pressure this barrage puts on the brain.

“The bottom line is, the brain is wired to adapt,” said Steven Yantis, a professor of brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

Mr. Ophir is loath to call the cognitive changes bad or good, though the impact on analysis and creativity worries him.

Mr. Campbell concedes that, even without technology, he may work or play obsessively, just as his father immersed himself in crossword puzzles.

Lily, a second-grader, is allowed only an hour a day of unstructured time, which she often spends with her devices.

“Connor is, other than programming, extremely technical. He’s 100 percent Internet savvy.”

The National Day of Unplugging was created by Reboot, a non-profit organization that encourages the hyper-connected to take a respite from all things digital, to leave the virtual world and get real.

I will ease slowly back into that busy, frenetic world that lies just at my fingertips.