Gadgets have changed not only our way of life, but also our way of thinking. Has the development of technology gone too far?
What is digital amnesia?
to forget information. The phenomenon was first discussed in 2007 when researchers at Trinity College Dublin concluded that the development of technology was causing the degradation of human memory. In an unpublished report in Technology and Cognitive Function, the phenomenon was also called "technological memory atrophy."
Later, in 2011, the journal Science published an article by Betsy japan number data Sparrow, a professor of psychology at Columbia University, titled "The Google Effect on Memory: The Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips." This publication was, in fact, the first scientific work on the influence of search engines on the organization of human memory, and it was this article that introduced the concept of the "Google effect," which, like digital amnesia, refers to people's tendency to forget information.
What is the Google effect and how is it different from digital amnesia?
If digital amnesia is related to the fact that a person always has a smartphone with them, where they can make a note, look at a map, write down a phone number and the name of a colleague, then the Google effect is the realization that there is no need to remember anything, because any information can be found at any time using a search engine.
In 2015, the Google effect became of interest not to academic professors, but to IT specialists. For example, the research company Opinion Matters surveyed 6,000 residents of Europe, the USA, and India aged 16 to 55. The results were surprising: it turned out that people are accustomed to trusting information from the Internet and smartphones more than their own memory.