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Take a moment to think about the last time you memorized someone's phone number. Was it way back when, perhaps circa 2001? And when was the last time you were at a dinner party or having a conversation with friends, when you whipped out your smartphone to Google the answer to someone's question? Probably last week.Technology changes the way we live our daily lives, the way we learn, and the way we use our faculties of attention -- and a growing body of research has suggested that it may have profound effects on our memories (particularly the short-term, or working, memory), altering and in some cases impairing its function.The implications of a poor working memory on our brain functioning and overall intelligence levels are difficult to over-estimate."The depth of our intelligence hinges on our ability to transfer information from working memory, the scratch pad of consciousness, to long-term memory, the mind’s filing system," Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, wrote in Wired in 2010. "When facts and experiences enter our long-term memory, we are able to weave them into the complex ideas that give richness to our thought."While our long-term memory has a nearly unlimited capacity, the short-term memory has more limited storage, and that storage is very fragile. "A break in our attention can sweep its contents from our mind," Carr explains.Meanwhile, new research has found that taking photos -- an increasingly ubiquitous practice in our smartphone-obsessed culture -- actually hinders our ability to remember that which we're capturing on camera.Concerned about premature memory loss? You probably should be. Here are five things you should know about the way technology is affecting your memory. Click headline to read more--
Via Chuck Sherwood, Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
Via Chuck Sherwood, Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
