Under the “use it or lose it” principle, will Google eventually cause the human brain to lose its
ability to remember things ??
For instance, there is even debate about allowing mobile phones into be used during school
examinations !!
Donkeyman! 
2 Likes
I use Google for loads of information. I read a great deal and find I go from one subject to then a more detailed information page, hopefully still on the same subject, but not always… …My memory has been bad for quite a few years since an illness put into a coma…still plagues my memory to this day and always will now…and my spelling is really poor…Google helps me keep ahead of stuff…
I underderstood that phones in school were taboo…
3 Likes
On the other side, if people are expected to remember all the things that people deal with every day, would brains go into burnouts?
So many more things to remember these days.
2 Likes
if you PM them and request they might do that for ya - why you feeling overloaded or summat?
1 Like
There’s no doubt tech is changing our brains, and some apps are designed specifically to exploit it (like Facebook! ugh!)
You might find some of these interesting:
https://mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/news-archive/how-does-technology-affect-our-brains
Emerging scientific evidence indicates that frequent digital technology use has a significant impact—both negative and positive—on brain function and behavior. Potential harmful effects of extensive screen time and technology use include heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, impaired brain development, and disrupted sleep. However, various apps, videogames, and other online tools may benefit brain health. Functional imaging scans show that internet-naive older adults who learn to search online show significant increases in brain neural activity during simulated internet searches. Certain computer programs and videogames may improve memory, multitasking skills, fluid intelligence, and other cognitive abilities. Some apps and digital tools offer mental health interventions providing self-management, monitoring, skills training, and other interventions that may improve mood and behavior. Additional research on the positive and negative brain health effects of technology is needed to elucidate mechanisms and underlying causal relationships.
1 Like
gets even more complex though because as we start sometimes losing short term memory function in old age - google because a real asset then - I for example can be talking to my son about music and can’t remember a singer or song - I can either use another phone of laptop/ipad to access google and the info I want pretty quickly - it helps instantly but does not necessarily improve the short term memory long term - but a useful function nevertheless - now tell me Azz whilst you are around - when I attempt to type the at sign and a user name I am then prevented from sending the message here - the screen darkens immediately - is this a function of probationary usage? ta
I do think Google makes me lazier.…I wouldn’t say forgetful as such, because I do remember what I have read (most of the time). Although, generally what the Internet says, and what actually is true, is debatable, so a lot of critical thinking is involved. 
1 Like
@DianneWoollie l also have memory problems Dianne , but only with remembering the most recent
events to happen,( say the last one hour or so ?) For instance l go to kitchen to get something from
the fridge, and end up looking in the crockery cupboard or vice versa !!l
It seems that the longer ago the event happened, the clearer my memory is ??
Maybe that’s why l have battled with the new forum format so much ??
Donkeyman!
1 Like
Yep, definitely. 
You are not the only one 
And since retirement I rarely know what day it is.
We both here do the strangest things at times and now no longer think it is anything to worry or concern ourselves about…in fact we now once a week review,who has done the most stupid ist thing of the …week… 
1 Like
@butterscotch Yes, that is a possibility l spose butterscotch ?
That’s why l quoted the " use it, or, lose it " principle ?
As you probably know, our little toes will disappear completely in a couple more generations as we
don’t use or need them anymore ! The same can be said about our appendixes due to eating
cooked food for so long !
If we favour using Google in preference to our memory for a few generations,Will our brains suffer
the same fate??
Donkeyman! 
@Azz So from that article you quoted AZZ it seems that technology can be used as an exercise
for the brain to improve it !!
But does that hold true for Google ??
Which is currently being used to replace our memory ??
Donkeyman!
I think until a principle higher than that of making money is dominant in a company… then you probably wouldn’t want to trust them as far as you could throw them 
Google is an aid. I have (had?) a very good memory and remember a lot of things I have read, heard or seen, often in the distant past, but Google (or in my case DuckDuckGo) adds detail to a vague memory.
I doubt it will reduce memory anymore than Encyclopedias did.
Maybe. But maybe that will be OK. Lifespans were less than half of what they are today not that many decades ago. In another bunch of decades, lifespans may be even longer. Maybe by then it might be good to let a few memories go without having to store everything up in our brains.
Like the appendix, maybe its usefulness will change over time.
Storing up information that’s not personal but that people don’t want to be bothered continuing to try to hold in their head might be advantageous when people are living hundreds of years.
In the shorter term, Google is a mixed blessing/curse because people don’t know the long term implications of it.
1 Like
Remember at School, some folks were years ahead of their time, on the diminishing cognitive retention front, and there weren’t no Google then.
1 Like
What goes online, stays online…ooooerrr!
I’m sure their talents lay elsewhere, Spitty! 
1 Like