Study: Google Rewiring The Way We Remember

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A new study out today says Google is rewiring the way we remember things. Could that be true? Or is this just the way Google wants us to remember it?

Now, a new study of Columbia University students suggests another Internet-related side effect: All that Googling we're doing may be impacting our memory (which might not be a bad thing if it helps us forget all the scary things our online lives are supposedly doing to us).
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Sure, it's believeable. Though I think that is as a result of the internet as a whole, whereas Google has been somewhat of a catalyst.
 
How else am I supposed to remember some math formula I haven't used since like calc 1 my first semester of college. Before search engines people did the same thing, but by looking it up in a book or something instead.
 
i always find this an interesting argument as before i had a mobile phone i could remember all my friends home telephone numbers, now that i have a mobile i struggle to recall my own nethermind theres. I think ive been trained to forget because i know i can look it up.
 
Flakes said:
i always find this an interesting argument as before i had a mobile phone i could remember all my friends home telephone numbers, now that i have a mobile i struggle to recall my own nethermind theres. I think ive been trained to forget because i know i can look it up.
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Well it would be impossible to remember 40-50 numbers.

Only numbers I needed to remember back in the day was my phone number, a few of my friends, and maybe the numbers to my parents workplace.

Otherwise it was the phone book... You know that book nobody uses anymore....
 
At the risk of sounding stupid before I read this today I was getting out of my car and my alarm remote just quick working. Ive been using a remote for so long I wasnt sure which way to turn the key to lock the doors... It made me think of this exact subject of having something else do something for you and losing the ability to do normal everyday things 20-30 years ago would be commen sense. I still remember OLD numbers of friends from childhood but cant remember almost any numbers from the past 10 years.
 
Flakes said:
i always find this an interesting argument as before i had a mobile phone i could remember all my friends home telephone numbers, now that i have a mobile i struggle to recall my own nethermind theres. I think ive been trained to forget because i know i can look it up.
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It's because there's no repetition. You put the number in your phone and then dial by name or quick key. You're not writing it down and then manually enter it in each time.

I didn't read the article. But that's not really "memory loss." You're just not having to remember stupid shit.
 
wiseoracle said:
Well it would be impossible to remember 40-50 numbers.

Only numbers I needed to remember back in the day was my phone number, a few of my friends, and maybe the numbers to my parents workplace.

Otherwise it was the phone book... You know that book nobody uses anymore....
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No, it would not be and is not at all. Heck, I remember 30+ passwords. As another poster said, part repetition, part not being lazy. That said, it is not harmful to be able to avoid remembering easily referenced data such as a phone number, I would say it is good even.
 
look at how many countless hours are wasted trying to memorize shit, only to forget them after an exam, or after not using it for a while.

knowing how and where to look it up is becoming more important than simply trying to store loads of information in your brain.

today, we have to process more information than of decades before. It would take forever to remember everything, so we just remember bits, markers, bookmarks, making it easy to go back and look it up.
 
Dallows said:
I didn't read the article. But that's not really "memory loss." You're just not having to remember stupid shit.
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The article is basically saying instead of remembering information, instead we now remember how/where to find the information we need.
 
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