Αre we corrupting our own memory by leaving everything on Google and Smartphones to remember? Is it that anyone’s inabililty to retain important information is due to the fact that too much responsibility is being offloaded to smartphones. A research from Kaspersky Lab says “Yes” to the above questions.
As the world is making advancements, people are more and more getting dependent on the technology around them. Google and Smartphones are among such technologies discussed here now. Earlier, when there were no smartphones, people used to remember long digit phone numbers, however, today, you can find out that more than half of the users who are using smartphones can’t remember a single phone number.
So, what can be the reason behind this? Here is one answer –
According to Kaspersky’s lab research, technologies like Google and Smartphones are letting people forget things. The report says that people living in the UK are greatly affected with “Google effect” and “digital amnesia” and a maximum of them do not even remember a single phone number. The reason behind this is simply excessive use of smartphones.
There is also some merit in saying that today because of the presence of the Internet, everything is within reach. The devices that are providing Internet facility is also serving as a storage device. The presence of technology rich gadgets has made people to store lots of information like phone number, passwords, addresses, tasks and events, etc. on them. Hence, eventually, this habit has made people suffer from digital amnesia.
Kate Kochetkova mentioned at the official blog on Kaspersky’s website:
“As many researchers say, when we store information externally (e.g. in a phone), we thereby encourage our mind to erase it. Scientists say that forgetting is not a bad thing at all: our brains have a capacity limit in terms of how much information is accessible. If we do not recall old memories, information gradually fades until we forget it. A brain can also overwrite irrelevant data with more topical facts and memories.”
Kaspersky has conducted this survey around the world where more than 51% of American and 40% of European seems to be affected by digital amnesia. .