Technology and the Brain
March 22, 2017
Technology’s Effect on the Memory
The article “How Technology is Warping Your Memory,” addresses the memory problems that people are having due, at least partly, to the excessive use and easy access of the internet. Researchers have been finding that technology could be greatly altering our short term memory, especially in the millennial generation. In our time, no one needs to memorize a phone number, ask a friend how to do something (Gregoire, 2013), or even memorize a simple math equation if they are one of the 64% of people in the United States that own an internet-accessible smart phone (Smith, 2015), Google will provide the answers. In addition to this article, there have recently been studies on the brain in relation to technology and internet usage, and the way that our memories have been and will be affected by the excessive use of technology, especially the internet.
“Infomania” is a phenomena used to describe the way our brains are effected by the stress of constant interruptions and an information overload. Another term used to describe this happening is Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). Along with having negative effects on a person’s well being, these constant interruptions reduce “situational awareness,” lessening the amount of information the brain is absorbing (Zeldes, 2007). Along with the mental stress of less focus and constant information, multitasking can also have a detrimental impact on our short term memory. A study found that the average person, while working on their computer, has 7 tabs open at one time. So much information and so many distractions make it much harder on our brain’s ability to accurately obtain and retain information (Klingberg, 2009).
If the coming generations rely on technology to do their thinking as much as our current generations do, they could come to depend so much on technology that they will not have the cognitive abilities to accomplish these tasks on their own. The majority of the population doesn’t just use their phones for calling and texting their friends and loved ones. Just a few things that everyday people use their phone for include internet search sites such as Google for everything from schoolwork, to how to remedy an illness, to recipes for mealtimes. These kinds of things used to be “stored” in our social groups, if we didn’t know, we would call a friend. Technology has replaced the need for us to remember facts, or depend on others to remember too (Gregoire, 2014). Others depend upon their electronics for reminders of important tasks or events they have planned throughout the day, storage of phone numbers, picture storage, emailing anywhere, etc., All that the average American has to do to know the date is reach in their pocket and pull out their phone, if it's not already in their hand. Remembering the date is less important in our time, and a survey found that people aged 18-34 are more likely to forget the date than people over the age of 55 (Gregoire, 2014), even though forgetfulness is supposedly related to old age.
One interesting new development with technology is its ability to interact with our brain’s own electrical system. The first mobile phone available to the general public was launched in 1983, and was too expensive for many people to be able to own it (Be Businessed, 2016). Within less than 30 years, the majority of people in our country now carry a smaller, internet accessible version in their pockets. Michio Kaku has been interviewing scientists and studying the rapid development of technology. He wrote a book which predicts that if the rapid advancement of technology and what it can do, and what we can do with it continues, by 2100 we could be communicating “telepathically” with computers, and using them to improve and be a part of our own bodies and minds (Kaku, 2012). From 1983 to 2013 we went from having to use a dial up internet to access the online community, to having a handheld device in our pockets with virtually unlimited access to information. Some phones allow us to access this information by simply verbally asking a search engine. Considering the rapid innovation of technology in the last 25 or so years, his prediction that we will be mentally accessing information and doing so much more with technology in just 70 years seems entirely plausible.
Now, using technology on our selves to be a part of us and make humans “better” does sound pretty cool, and in fact, it would probably be. One can imagine, with the help of technology and the internet, in 100 years we could become an extremely knowledgeable and almost super-human-like species. The only problem with depending on technology to do our thinking, remembering, and learning for us, would lie in the position we would be in if we ever had to live without it. If our current short-term memories are deteriorating, that could mean that people in the future won’t remember much at all, which would not be a problem unless the use of technology was suddenly lost.
References:
Smith, A. (2015, April 1). U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015. Pew Research Center.
Retrieved from: www.pewinternet.org/2015 /04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/
Zeldes, N., Sward, D., Louchheim, S. (2007, August 6). Infomania: Why we can’s afford
to ignore it any longer. First Monday, 12;8. Retrieved from: www.journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1973/1848
Gregoire, C. (2014, January 25). How Technology Is Warping Your Memory. The
Huffington Post.
Klingberg, T. (2009). The Overflowing Brain. Oxford University. Retrieved from:
Be Businessed (2016). History of Mobile Cell Phones- The First Cell Phone to Present
Time. BeBusinessed, copyright 2016. Retrieved from: http://bebusinessed.com/history/history-cell-phones/
Kaku, M. (2012, February). Physics of the Future. First Anchor Books Edition, Copyright
2013 by Michio Kaku. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4Bt-twHqZXcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR14&dq=technology+change+our+brains+in+the+future&ots=yRffZrxVml&sig=hodxTso1QIL9HOSIQ3bf3yqdqBY#v=onepage&q=technology%20change%20our%20brains%20in%20the%20future&f=true
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