Does Technology Affect Your Memory

Technology is part of every aspect in society’s life.

It is used for so many different things that our world consequentially revolves around it. In most cases, technology does not help with memory. Think about it. When was the last time you had to remember someone’s phone number, or an address that wasn’t yours? Although some believe that technology assists to help improve our memory, it is actually true that technology has a negative effect on your memory because of the continuous flow of information coming into your brain that it replaces the already known information you have. Multiple studies and experiments have been conducted to prove this theory.

Technology can do a lot of different things for us. Some might think that technology can actually help us with improving our memory, that it helps us practice what we already know and what we are learning. A small majority thinks that technology assists us to actually improve our memory. Technology has practices we can do, and exercises we can do to improve our memory. Catherine Scaramuzzi believes this theory as well.

Technology like smart phones, apps, and wearable devices will help improve our memory with practice. Technology also affects our future memory. We are always making to-do-lists, shopping lists, and setting alarms to do things at a certain time so we don’t forget. Steve Olenski explains that when we set an alarm of some sort, we use technology to remind us to do things. Then we go back to doing our normal routine because that information has already left our mind because we know something will remind us later, so we don’t put any effort into remembering our tasks.

The biggest part of our memory that technology affects is our short-term memory. That is the part of our brain that is always working and always thinking. When we are constantly getting new information to process in our minds, we don’t realize that what we had on our mind is slowly slipping away, and we are saving the external information. Cohen Patricia illustrates that we save information externally, and we only save the source from where our information came from. “Our research then tested if, once information has been accessed, our internal encoding is increased for where the information is to be found rather than for the information itself. The Internet has become a primary form of external or trans active memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.

” (Cohen Patricia) Think of it as water being poured into a glass constantly all day long. The cup eventually gets full and the thoughts at the top of your head diminish into nothing. Several experiments have been conducted, all successful in proving that technology does affect our memory. Very little research has been done to see what can be done to improve your memory. However basic concepts still apply; you have to eat healthy, get enough sleep, be active, meditate, etc.

Technology is incorporating itself in everything we do, but it shouldn’t be part of our ability to remember things. Works Cited Cohen, Patricia. “Internet Use Affects Memory, Study Finds.” N.p.

, 14 July 2011. Web. 20 May 2014. Olenski, Steve. “How Google Affects Our Memory.

” N.p., 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 May 2014.

Scaramuzzi, Catherine. “3 Technology Trends to Improve Your Memory.” N.p., 4 Apr.

2013. Web. 20 May 2014. Lehrer, Jonah. “How the Internet Affects Our Memories.” N.

p., 15 July 2011. Web. 20 May 2014.