Do smartphones ruin your memory? 'Digital amnesia' on the rise
Digital amnesia is “a phenomenon where our brains are fast losing their ability to remember as we become increasingly reliant on technology to retain data.”
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This is super interesting. Also agree it's super related to social media diminishing our attention span by the minute. I've quit most social media (ig, tiktok, twitter) 1 month ago and honestly can already see some differences in my attention and overall mood.
I've noticed this in myself and in others.
Pair this with alcohol, instant entertainment, cheap crappy foods and swipe culture and we've got a wombo combo memory destroyer on our hands.
It's insanely important for us, indie devs or not, to defined our mental and physical space.
This is just getting started.
Woof. This is bleak but I agree it's just getting started. There have been many things happening in our world over the last year or so that have reminded me of the film Idiocracy.
This feels like an important precursor to that imaginary world ... "Don't worry about memory ... we've got you covered with this smartphone!"
The idea here makes some sense. As we use our phones more, the less important long-term memory becomes. Our brain adapts and our memory's capacity wains.
Scientists aren't in total agreement though, and one in this article argues that smartphones actually free up cognitive space to concentrate and focus on other things. In contrast, another neuroscientist predicts that prolonged use of GPS likely will reduce grey matter density in the hippocampus, which goes along with a "variety of symptoms, such as increased risk for depression and other psychopathologies, but also certain forms of dementia."
Regardless, I could see AI stepping in to help with humans' memory woes as we age and if memories continue to diminish.
I can totally see this being true. There's so much less of a reason to cultivate a long term memory. This made me think of my grandfather who seemed to know every actor, director, writer, and film producer between 1940 - 1980. Most of what he learned in a lifetime of cinema can be learned in seconds.
Not surprised by this. It's less smart phone specific, and more social media though. Anything that's constantly asking for your attention. Unfortunately, even indiehackers will do this with their constant emails on every comment.
I used to not do anything much more before smartphones, or even mp3 players. Eg: waiting for the train, walking, waiting for water to boil, standing in line, waiting for something else.
In all the above scenarios I would say most people would pick up their phone and do something. I have no idea about the science in this. But it feels like the mind had more time to relax and process before. Recently I've made an effort to do nothing a lot more. And it feels great.
So... growing up, I always had issues with memory. I thought I was just bad at remembering things (still is). But under pressure, back in college, I pretty much memorized advance engineering math textbook...
I don't remember much of my code either.
Wow their findings in kids is alarming! MRI scans in a group of 10-year-olds found a relationship between tech use and cortical thinning, which is something that usually happens as we age. Cortical thinning is associated with degenerative diseases such as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and migraines. Ummm. 😳 That's really scary.