Anyone who was a child in the early 2000s will remember that the most exciting thing you could own was a car with TVs in the back seat.

Never mind that the screens were tiny and fuzzy, and only worked when the phone signal was good. Being able to watch cartoons while your dad drove you to school was the height of sophistication.

Now, cars are becoming the most powerful computers we own. They are changing from mostly mechanical objects that we must operate entirely by ourselves, to high-tech moving offices and bedrooms which get us where we need to go without need for our input at all.

They’re also changing in response to our “always on” culture.

“Customers want to be connected all the time, with their phones, being able to get their messages, whatever they're asking for, and so [car companies are] providing what they're asking for,” says Carla Bailo, president of the Michigan-based Centre for Automotive Research.

As automotive computers become more powerful, screens the size of a small TV, even in the front seat, are now de rigueur. But while autonomous cars are still a pipe dream for most people, what impact is all this information having on our very distractable brains?