Google describes memory as an “easy, quick way to save and find everything in one place.” It allows you to: Save any screen content to Memory: Including links to the original source when available. Save real-world stuff to Memory: Objects, posters, or handwritten notes. Mankind has relied on its memory to retain knowledge. Knowledge is essential to survival and evolution. Man has invented ways to store knowledge and information across various mediums. Man also invented the internet to connect and let information flow. Lots of things have happened during the end years of the last millennium and young years of the new millennium. And we see today Google-like things controlling our mind space, covering every aspect of our connected lives. Google is now Queen’s English word defined on Google as to search for information about someone or something. We say that I ‘Googled’ my memory to remember something. But then Google and in turn Internet has impacted human memory.
There is new research in recent years examining the impact of the internet on human memory. We already have seen various documentaries explaining how social media impacts our opinion-making and decisions. This touches every field including politics, economics, healthcare, education, and every aspect of our social life. There are years of research put into how people make decisions, showing that people who are overconfident in their knowledge become more entrenched in their views about politics and science and also can make questionable financial and medical decisions.
A study found that people who make extensive use of map apps and GPS devices have the worst spatial memory used for navigating through the world. Several studies have examined how memory may be altered by the act of posting on social media. But the results are contradicting. Sometimes this improves recall and other times induces forgetfulness.
I had a chance to read an article about a particular study in the USA which used a series of experiments to test how people used and thought about their own knowledge as they completed short quizzes of general knowledge. As per that article: ‘some participants had access to Google while answering the questions — what is the most widely spoken language in the world? Was one — while others did not have access to Google. They also completed surveys. It was found that people who used Google were more confident in their own ability to think and remember, and erroneously predicted that they would know significantly more in future quizzes without the help of the internet. Researchers attributed that to Google’s design: simple and easy, less like a library and more like a “neural prosthetic” that simulates a search in a human brain. The real culprit is the speed of knowledge transaction which makes up for the fact that you never understand what you don’t know. Another research paper mentions the “Google effect”: a phenomenon in which people are less likely to remember information if they know they can find it later on the internet.
Research doesn’t imply that people should quit using Google and other apps. That is not going to happen. It’s another interesting thing to observe closely if Google or other companies are following this latest research or if they would make any changes to their products as a result. Google has said that its mission was to organize the world’s information and make it accessible. They said that this helps people with a range of things in their everyday lives.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have debated ways to define human memory. For many modern scholars, it’s not as simple as what a person can recollect in a given moment. We started this discussion with how Google itself describes human memory. People and scientists both think of the mind as sitting inside brains. But in reality, we use much more than our own brains to think and to remember. Humans have relied on family, friends, and other people and external devices like writing material, computer devices. It is best to think about memory and knowledge in terms of community, not individuals. Internet is just a connection of our individual knowledge and activity as a community to build knowledgebase. The research scientists have also defined this process as offloading: giving the brain a break by storing information elsewhere. An example is storing numbers in a book like a diary or as contacts in mobile phones. In that way, we offload our knowledge storage in platforms like Google.
But the internet isn’t just storing information. It’s providing information nearly instantaneously at any time, without asking any questions in return, and generally without fail. And it’s providing ways to shape memories.
Recent research found that the externalization of memories into digital format changes what people attend to and remember about their own experiences. Digital media is different because of factors such as how easily images are edited or the huge number of memories at people’s fingertips.
But that offers a risk of manipulation of each piece of information on social media and internet platforms. There is a chance for distortion
The perpetual flow of information provided by the internet may potentially interfere with sustained concentration, by prompting people towards “media multi-tasking” between different types of incoming sources of information. Research has investigated the correlates of the highest levels of internet usage and dependence, specifically in those with “internet use disorders” (IUDs). The question of course remains whether excessive use of the internet is a causal factor for ADHD, or whether adolescents with probable ADHD are more susceptible to excessive internet usage.
Modifications to individual-level behavior (often through cognitive changes) can ultimately carry over to shape the emergent population-level processes that arise as a product of the actions of the individuals within the society.
Thus our own invention has far-reaching consequences on our individual and social memory, our cognitive and behavioral patterns. Hope these researches help us consciously decide the course of corrective actions. So let’s hope that our memory serves us more effectively hand in hand with Google.
