Scientific study shows internet use changes human memory

I agree that the Internet Age has made people "dumber". I can say that I sometimes rely too much on the convenience of my iPhone to look something up quickly. However, I grew up without easy access to the Internet for information, so I had to rely on books and my memory. I have, I believe, an exceptional memory, making it easy for me to read something once on Wikipedia and retain it. Not to mention that I've amassed quite a collection of reference books and kept all my old college textbooks. In case the apocalypse strikes in my lifetime and the Internet dies, I've got my shotgun and books to help me out.

We're only just now figuring this out?! I picked up on this intuitively nearly a decade ago...

Let me ask you something... Would you be comfortable playing a spontaneous round of Trivial Pursuit without *some* electronic device nearby?

Yeah, I didn't think so....

If you find yourself having to google stuff to get on with your everyday life, you're probably in way too deep already.

How about turning off.the computer and doing something away from the keys/cell/PDA/tablet/etc...? Facebook.and all your other social engineering-addicted "friends" will still be there even after you've grown up to see just how lame most of this stuff really is. (Twitter? Really?! It has "Twit" in it's name! IM-shorthand is not English, no matter how few characters you're allowed to use... Besides, who is still budgeting text messages on a per character basis in the world of broadband? Was there a sudden spike in pager sales for the first time since the 80s?!)

We still have to rely upon our memories and experience to know which questions to ask and how to judge the veracity and usefulness of the answers we get. This is why, no matter how much freely available information there is on the net about, say, fixing one's computer, people still need help from those more in the know about it. Quite often the only thing a computer novice can do with access to such huge amounts of reference material is mess up his machine even further. Or to use an old school analogy, it's like discussing a book with someone who only read the Cliff's Notes, versus someone who had actually read the book.

It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of knowing just enough to be dangerous. Now anyone with access to a search engine knows just enough about nearly everything to be dangerous, should they so choose.

Speaking from ...um, what was that term?... oh yeah... experience, I'd say that relying on one's memories is a double edged knife-like long thingie. We tend to believe our memories, and stuff people tell us, but over and over and over, that turns out to be much less reliable than we assume. I think there was a study on that. Lemme look it up...

We need to remember though that in order to know which questions to ask we need a solid foundation and basic knowledge. The more solid this foundation the more access you have to other information.

Secondly we need to ensure that we ensure that our children still have enough base knowledge memorized in addition to their ability to research so that they can be successful even when computer systems are down. Balance is what can ensure our continued success.

The image for this article is genius. Love it!

On a note related the actual topic for years now when I have interviewed people for IT support roles I am more interested in their ability to find answers than know everything off the top of their head. It's a simple fact you cannot know everything but if you are given a technical question and know where to find the answer quickly you can still do the job.

Being firmly reliant on memories means being firmly rooted in the PAST. This in itself is a form of entrapment, and is also a form of "stupification." Philosophically speaking, the PAST always differs from the present and future, simply on the principle of time being: the apparency of change in position in space. As far as knowing something goes, looking is superior to thinking (remembering). I include looking up info on the net in the category of looking. You don't necessarily have to believe it, it's just more current than memory.

I love any references to Star Trek TNG!! This article was worth it just for that!

Its true. I think we all spend less time remembering things like addresses, phone numbers, etc these days and and our brains have adapted to spend more time remembering user names, passwords, etc.

While this is an interesting bit of information, it's by no means scientific or thoroughly researched--and highly suspect in my opinion. In my own case, I've found my own personal knowledge base (recallable information I carry with me in "wetware") is exponentially greater with my ability to look up information and clarify terminology at the drop of a hat. I have a significantly greater understanding of subjects I'd never have taken the time to research prior to the Internet. I disagree heartily with the distopian reasoning of the article.

Yes, we have the ability to look things up quickly, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're all treating information with less importance. Like anything else, information is a tool for use. The article gives the false idea that we're becoming slothful in retaining it because it's so easy to look up in the future. I maintain that I carry around more knowledge with me in my mind now than I ever could before, precisely because I've been able to read so much more than I ever would have before. I don't worry about memorizing it, but then I never did before the Internet.