Various cognitive theories indicate how the brain and technology have interacted with each other in an iterative and progressive manner to shape human cognition. Technologies are cultural tools that emerged as a human response to address specific needs. These technologies have allowed us to overcome various ecological, social, and cultural challenges that have impacted the phylogenetic development of higher cognitive abilities that have elevated Homo sapiens above other species. In the digital age, technologies such as the internet, smartphones, and the various software applications that derive from them play a fundamental role in how we relate to ourselves and society. Understanding how humans interact with these technologies, and the effect they have on altering brain architecture, is essential for designing and developing better tools. This chapter summarizes the key findings that explain the consequences of using these technologies on our development and how behavior, through these means, has given rise to digital behavior. Digital behavior is the compendium of interactions and their consequences that occur on the individual when using a digital service. The design of digital behaviors can be described as a new sub-field of Human Factors and Engineering Psychology, with habit formation and need satisfaction serving as the main epistemological core of digital behavior design. The design of digital behaviors is a necessary discipline that can enhance user engagement with these technologies by improving cognitive ergonomics, thereby more effectively addressing the needs that users bring to these types of services.

In this chapter, we explore how our brains help us read and understand written words. Imagine when you started school – you could talk, recognize some letters, and start to hear the sounds in words. These skills lay the groundwork for learning to read. Good language skills make it easier to learn to read. But heres the twist: our brains werent originally built for reading. Weve only been reading for a few thousand years, while weve been using spoken language for tens of thousands of years. So, our brains adapted to this new skill of reading. We also discuss a special part of the brain called the visual word form area that helps us recognize words. We explore how reading changes our brains and why its crucial to have both good language skills and a writing system around to help us become readers. Dyslexia, a reading difficulty, is also discussed. In simple terms, well uncover how our brains enable us to read by adapting to new cultural practices, like writing, and how they use our visual system to make reading possible.