How Technology Is Warping Your Memory
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.
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.
- Information overload makes it harder to retain information.
- The Internet is becoming the brain’s “external hard drive.”
- Distraction makes it more difficult to form memories.
- Information overload causes us to lose sight of the big picture (and then the small picture).
- Millennials’ memories are rapidly degenerating.
Peppermint Mocha
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons powdered baking cocoa
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons peppermint syrup (do not use extract- you can buy a very large bottle of syrup at Starbucks for $7) or 1 1/2 tablespoons creme de menthe
- 4 ounces espresso
- 12 ounces steamed milk
- whipped cream
- red sugar crystals
Instructions
- Combine 3 Tbsp Baking Cocoa with 3 Tbsp warm water to make into a rich syrup. Pour into a 16 ounce mug.
- Add espresso
- Add Peppermint syrup.
- Steam milk and add to remainder of cup.
- Garnish with whipped cream and sugar crystals.
Serves: 1
Four Neck Stretches
1. Flexion Stretch – Chin to Chest
Begin each exercise with your neck in midline position. Your head should be centred and not tilted forward, back, or to the side. You can do this exercise while either lying flat on your back or sitting up.
- Gently bend your head forward while bringing your chin toward your chest.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the back of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat this 4 more times.
2. Extension Stretch – Eyes to Sky
Begin each exercise with your neck in midline position. Your head should be centred and not tilted forward, back, or to the side. You can do this exercise while either lying flat on your back or sitting up.
- Gently bend your head backward so that your eyes are looking up to the “sky”.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the front of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat this 4 more times.
3. Rotation – Side to Side
Begin each exercise with your neck in midline position. Your head should be centred and not tilted forward, back, or to the side. You can do this exercise while either lying flat on your back or sitting up.
- Gently turn your head to the left, looking over your left shoulder.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the right side of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat above stretch 4 times.
- Gently turn your head to the right, looking over your right shoulder.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the left side of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat above stretch 4 more times.
4. Lateral Flexion – Ear to Shoulder
Begin each exercise with your neck in midline position. Your head should be centred and not tilted forward, back, or to the side. You can do this exercise while either lying flat on your back or sitting up.
- Gently bend your neck in attempts to touch your left ear to your shoulder.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the right side of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat above stretch 4 more times.
- Gently bend your neck in attempts to touch your right ear to your shoulder.
- Stop when a stretch is felt in the left side of your neck.
- Hold position for 20 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat above stretch 5 more times.
