Psychology experiments showed that people presented with difficult questions began to think of computers.
When participants knew that facts would be available on a computer later, they had poor recall of answers but enhanced recall of where they were stored.
The researchers say the internet acts as a “transactive memory” that we depend upon to remember for us.
I would thoroughly believe this, which is why I don’t really want a Nook or Kindle. The studies I’ve read suggest that we retain little of what we read on a Nooks or Kindles because the brain is interpreting the text like we would an e-mail or a text…something to barely scratch the short term memory.
This is also the reason I keep a manual typewriter for creative writing. People laugh at me, but I can type two or three single spaced pages on a regular typewriter with no grammatical, punctuation, or spelling errors. I can then walk down two flights of steps and fire up my e-mail or word processing program on my computer, and my brain completely forgets how to type because I’m dependent on the little red, squiggly line the editing software provides on the computer.
This is an interesting article & study. I definitely find it echoes my own experience as well.
I first noticed the change in my memory in terms of phone numbers. I used to know 30+ numbers by heart in my early teens and 20s. Now, even if I *TRY* to memorize a phone number, I find it difficult. My brain “knows” I don’t need to memorize the number – it’s stored in my cell phone.
Likewise, I find myself not trying to learn information in detail if I know I can go look it up online again. (The part of the study about learning to remember where to find information was fascinating and I find it very true…)
Archer, interesting comment about the typewriter. I don’t have a manual typewriter at hand, but I have maintained the practice of journaling and keeping Bible Study notes using pen and paper even though it would be easier and more productive in some cases to keep them on computer. (Some study notes I do eventually transfer to computer if they are for a teaching I am sharing with others…) My writing on computer is different than when I am writing by hand…
So, count me one who loves the vast wealth of information that computers and the internet make possible for us to have at our fingertips, but one who is concerned at how they have changed how I work, study and remember. I will stick to certain “old fashioned” practices of bible study & journaling with an open Bible and pen & ink journal in front of me precisely because they facilitate deeper reflection than reading or typing on the computer permits.
I completely agree! I was just speaking with a friend about this and how the children and young people I know rely so much on the web and computers for things that the older generations had to have stored in their own minds. I hope our education system gets wind of all this before things go too far. I remember arguing with a tecaher when I was younger that I didn’t need to know how to do equations because I could always use a calculator if I needed to! Many years later I regret my arrogance as there have been many situations when others asked me to work something out for them or I was just put on the spot and didn’t have a calculator on hand. Another thing this reminds me of is that many younger people seem to be severely lacking in penmanship these days. I assume it is because most of the writing they do would be on computers so they just don’t get enough practice making it all the more indecipherable when they do (ironically I did not know for certain the spelling of the word indecipherable just now and had to rely on this browsers spell-check yet after correcting it I did not feel motivated to make note of the correct spelling!)