Digital Amnesia: How Digital Devices Affect Memory

How Technology is Changing Memory?

Now in this age of technology we have more information than ever at our fingertips. We use our phones, computers, and other gadgets to hold and keep our memories, from numbers to pictures of our families. But this dependency on technology has created a trend called "digital amnesia" which is our tendency to forget things that we have stored electronically, as we depend on technology to remember them for us.

The phrase "digital amnesia" was originally used in 2015 by cyber security company Kaspersky Lab, to refer to the condition where individuals forget significant information due to having outsourced it to digital devices. In a survey conducted by the company, 91% of individuals in the UK employed digital devices to save information, but only 25% could recall significant phone numbers and just 33% could recall their children's birthdays without referring to their devices.

The dynamics between technology and memory are intricate. Technology has, on the one hand, made it easier than ever before to access and store information. We can carry thousands of images, documents, and other data on our phones and computers and access them anywhere with internet access. This has enabled us to retain more information than ever. At the same time, however, our dependence on technology has also altered the manner in which we employ our memories. Rather than memorize information, we have learned to just save it digitally. For instance, we no longer need to memorize telephone numbers because we can just save them under our contacts list. This has led to a decline in our ability to remember information, as we rely more and more on technology to do the remembering for us.

Though digital amnesia may not appear to be a big deal, it could have real-world implications. For instance, if we forget how to use our digital devices or if they are stolen or hacked into, we lose access to precious data that we have stored. This ranges from personal photographs and documents to financial data and passwords. Moreover, depending upon technology to recall for us may cause our memory capabilities to deteriorate over the years since we will be turning less and less to our own brains in order to store and retrieve information.

In order to combat digital amnesia, there are several things that we can do. In the first place, we can try to memorize key facts without depending on our digital devices. We can memorize key phone numbers and addresses, for instance, and practice recalling them frequently. Second, we can utilize memory aids, like mnemonic devices, to assist us in recalling key facts. Mnemonics are memory devices used to recall information by linking it with something else, for example, a rhyme or a picture.

We can also take actions to secure our digital equipment and data, including employing strong passwords and frequently backing up our data. This will assist us in preventing us from losing valuable information when our devices get stolen or lost.

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We can make a conscious effort to utilize our memories more frequently, through exercises and activities. For instance, we can try memorizing lists of words or numbers, or adopt a new hobby that demands us to memorize information, such as learning a new language or learning how to play a musical instrument. Digital amnesia is a fast-developing issue in the digital world we live in today. As technology has improved to the point where it's easier than ever to save and retrieve information, it has also altered how we utilize our memory and contributed to a decrease in our capacity for remembering information. By acting to secure our digital devices and data, and by actually using our memory abilities, we can fight back against digital amnesia and prevent ourselves from forgetting valuable information or skill.