The unprecedented access to technology and the ability to absorb multiple sources of information has become an integral part of what’s rewiring our brains and making them more elastic.
Virtually all human activities center on technology, with so much dependence on every single task or assignment. Without being told, people are spending more time on the internet.
For instance, in the academic terrain, the trend is not different. Obviously, Google becomes the solutions to every challenge.
According to Pew Research Center survey found one-fifth of Americans self-report going online “almost invariably” and 73 percent admitting they go online on a daily basis.
Increased dependency on the internet impacts our problem-solving abilities, recall and learning, Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Illinois, found out.
The study, published in the journal Memory, looked at the odds of a person reaching out to use a device as an aide tool when answering questions
Meanwhile, researchers divided participants into two groups, the first group using their memory and another that used Google.
After being asked to answer difficult questions, the subjects were given easier questions with the options of answering from memory or with the assistance of a search engine. It was revealed that those who used the internet in the initial round of questions were far more likely to turn to Google during the second series than their counterparts who used their memory.
From the research, 30 percent of participants who first used the internet did not bother to attempt simpler questions from memory.
Suggested Read: Are Smart Connected Devices Too Dumb?
“The human mind is becoming dynamic due to over reliance on search engines. The research shows that as we use the internet to support and extend our minds, we become more reliant on it,” says Benjamin Storm, Lead Author of the study.
“Whereas before we might have tried to recall something on our own, now we don’t bother. As more information becomes available via smartphones and other devices, we become progressively more reliant on it in our daily lives.”
According to Evan Risko, a Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Waterloo, the process of relying on memory aides, is known in the scientific community as cognitive offloading and cognitive is not new in the space.
Although, Risko understands that cognitive offloading has the convenience factor, but it also comes with the adverse effects.
Sam Gilbert, a Royal Society of University College London admitted that there is no doubt that cognitive offloading has lots of positive impacts, but also potential costs.
It is evident how technology allows us to remain independent as we grow older and does it mean, we what might start relying on external devices.We are just beginning to understand these effects.
In another perspective, the New York Times reported that children who first learn to write by hand are better at generating ideas and retaining information.
One myth about writing with paper and penis that, it activates different parts of the brain compared to typing on word processors. Even writing in cursive uses different parts of the brain compared to print.
