Is Tech Killing Our Memory?
Not that far back
In a not so distant past, our desk would be populated by notebooks, pens, a calendar, a diary, a calculator, a hole-puncher, a stapler, perhaps a ruler. Now, apart from the PC and the mobile phone, we’ll be lucky to find a pen on our desk.
Most of this has been incorporated into our personal tech devices. We are no longer required to remember birth dates, meetings, appointments or telephone numbers. Nor we need to know our way home.
Here we are, face to face with technology, on a daily basis. It’s a sad state of affairs.
I see myself as tech-curious with old habits, as there are some I have not managed to part with. Although I know it’s more environmentally friendly not to, I still print what I class as important stuff. The stuff I know I will need to produce or refer to regularly.
I still use the stapler and the hole-puncher. I still use a family calendar hanging on the wall. My reading is still more enjoyable (now more than ever) in printed books. Heck, until 2 years ago I was still making my shopping lists in a loose piece of paper that I’d then put in the wallet inside my handbag.
But I have admittedly resigned to technology in all things that require short to medium-term memory, i.e. phone numbers, birthdays (if all fails there’s Facebook), calculator (hate maths!), appointments and meetings.
However I still remember silly things like my first ever landline number, my first licence plate and I remember the birthdays of the people that are closer to me. I remember my phone number (tho I never call myself) and I don’t remember anyone else’s… Oh, and I can still get around (LOCALLY) without GPS assistance.
Surrendered to Tech
I totally recognise technology is handy, if not vital, in some instances. It that allows us to keep in touch, to stay safe, to alert, to inform, as well as to entertain. We certainly would not be as aware as we are today if it weren’t for the miraculous evolution in technology. And it’s like a backup memory.
“Alexa, remind me to go to the Doctors at 2.30pm!”
“Alexa, how much is 256.846 minus 34.945?”
Technology has taken over our ability to memorize things and like any old computer, our brain is constantly defragmenting the information in our brain, screening, selecting, removing files, all for the sake of pragmatics and to make us available for more worthwhile productive tasks. But what is that dependency doing to our brain?
I strongly believe that, now that technology is taking over so many tasks in our lives, all our brains have left to do is to focus on the emotional side: forcing us to absorb useless and brain-damaging information, which make us develop anxieties, lead us to depression, dementia and other psychological conditions and disorders science studies about.
Soon enough we won’t have to think at all.
More interesting reads on this topic just below:
Memory loss isn’t just an old person’s problem