The widespread use of digital technologies, while opening a vast field of new opportunities, currently creates problems of cognitive overload, attentional fragmentation, addiction, and atrophy of the bodily dimension of thought and communication, which are worsening, generate a growing unhappiness, and in face of which we are powerless. But in the absence of detailed knowledge of the lived experience which is associated with our cognitive processes, it is very difficult to assess precisely how the use of digital technologies is transforming them.
For example, comparing precise descriptions of the activity of traditional readers and "digital readers" would enable us to check whether the use of digital media actually favors a superficial, non linear, fragmented reading, which hampers the deep understanding and memorizing of the text. The same type of approach could be applied to the process of expression and understanding, in different types of communicative situations, non mediated or mediated by more or less "rich" sensorial devices, in order to assess, for example, the effects of the dissociation between communication and bodily presence. Finely understanding the impact of digital technologies on our cognitive processes would enable supporting this evolution in a relevant way, identifying and preventing possible risks, and designing a new generation of digital devices that encourage us to think deeply and creatively.