I’m saying it flat out: Today’s post is going to be little more than a rant on my feelings on technology’s impact on our thoughts. And yes, I know you hear it all of the time, that technology is bad for us in one sense or another, BUT you haven’t heard me say it, right?
I have a pretty bad memory. I’ll oddly remember a phrase said by a middle school teacher, but forget names and what I did two weeks ago with such ease. And while this is mostly normal, I think my memory has gotten worse. And since I don’t attribute it to old age (I’m a wee 19), I think it’s due in part to the internet. My phone gives me an excuse to not stretch my brain to remember facts. I don’t have to create links between neurons. Who’s the 5th president of the United States? I might not know, but Siri does. And there have been studies done that identify a correlation between phone dependency and memory. A Huffington Post article
even quipped, “The Internet is becoming the brain’s ‘external hard drive.” Our brains, which were the original super computers, know they have the backup of phoning a friend for an answer gameshow style, but now that friend is the phone itself.
One of the most astonishing effects our phones have on our thinking is how they creep into our thoughts even when we are not using them. They’re distractors not just in a physical sense (don’t text and drive, for example), but in a less obvious way. “How many likes is my picture getting” I query as I attempt to study. My phone is out of sight, but right in mind. Ironically, my friend, Eric, has told me how using PocketPoints during class made him hyper aware of his phone. The app incentives students to lock their phones during lectures by providing local and online shopping discounts through points accumulated over time. Eric said he had to delete the app because although he wasn’t using his phone during this time, he would ponder just how many points he was earning instead of the answer to a math problem. He wanted to know what was happening on his device without him.
BUT I don’t know what is to be done, and that’s why you might just call this a rant. I’m all hyped up about an issue, but have no idea how to ameliorate a problem that is so ingrained in our 21st century beings. So, I’m just going to sit here and check Instagram. Or maybe I won’t, but now I’m already thinking about it.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4414778