There’s no point in even trying to debate the obvious: technology has
made our lives simpler and ultimately better. The trade-off is that
we’re dependent on all sorts of gadgets, but that’s a small price to pay
when the world is as wired as it is. As a result, humans at large are
at risk of losing something important — but we might gain something even
better as a result.
Recent studies have explained the changes
taking place. For starters, it’s extremely likely that people are doomed
to suffer from “digital amnesia” — that is, the general reliance on
devices and connections to remember things on our behalf means that we
can’t hold onto details very well. It’s been proven in several surveys,
one of which found that seventy-one percent of a sample six thousand
couldn’t remember their children’s phone numbers if asked.
It
sounds like a crippling loss, but there are benefits. Instead of
remembering specific data, tests have suggested that we’ve become better
at remembering where that data is stored. More to the point, the
internet may have helped with the development of a “transactive memory” —
one where it’s possible to know information by knowing that someone
else once dealt with it. Simply put, their knowledge becomes our
knowledge, and in turn brainpower is saved by not having to overexert
with a wealth of information. All told, it may be a case of two steps
forward and one step back.
