Technology: The Mind Killer

What are the actual dangers of technology?

Sangfroid. Do you know what that means? If you do, great! However, chances are that you don’t. What do you do if you come across a word that you don’t know? Look it up, of course. But how? Well, most would copy-paste the word into Google, or some online dictionary, and bada-bing-bada-boom. There’s the answer. Front and Center. Most people probably wouldn’t waste their time by flipping through the pages of a dictionary. Google is so much faster and easier to access than any plain dictionary, but is having that power at the tips of our fingers detrimental to our ingenuity? (By the way, the definition of sangfroid is self-control, especially under strain.)

Google, the Hero

How could such a useful site hurt our mental capabilities? With thousands of entertaining learning apps and the bulk of the world’s information at the ready, technology is supposed to make us smarter than ever. Before to find the answer to a question, you had to go to the library and turn all the bookshelves upside down to find a book related to your subject. Then, praying that the answer would lie in its pages, you would comb through each chapter. However, if it didn’t, you would have to repeat the process. Things are different now. Google is our new library, only it can answer hundreds of questions in the time it would take to solve one at the old-fashioned library. (No offense, libraries, we still love you.) The days of shuffling through musty, yellowed books are gone. With Google, we can find our answers in milliseconds.

The world is changing around us. We now have tiny metal boxes that can take photos, play music, call people, and find answers all in one. But now, people complain that the youth spend all their time with their eyes glued to their metal boxes, and consequently, ruining their social life. Bah. Teenagers.

But are they the victims of something else?

The Google Effect

Since it is so easy, we all rely on the Internet to get our answers. But is the “easy” part bad for us? We remember things better when we make an effort to remember them. Google is always there for us. We can look the same thing up multiple times and we will still get the same answer. So, our brains have fallen into the mode, “why try to remember when it will always be there?” Then, we start to forget things, and our memory capacity declines. This effect is called “digital amnesia” or the “Google Effect”.

But that’s not all the “Google Effect” covers. Our frequent googling and social media checking divide our attention constantly. The consequence? Continuous partial attention. That means that we do not stick to one task for very long, because we get antsy, and need to do something else. In the end, we may end up finishing our first task, yet it takes much longer than it should have.

"This effect is called 'digital amnesia' or the 'Google Effect'."

At first, it may seem silly. Google? Making us more forgetful and less attentive? But, quick, tell me without scrolling to the top of the page. What was the word I defined, spelled correctly, and what was the definition, in your own words? Can you do it? Hmm…

Handwriting Beats Typing

Well, here’s another word, but this time, you probably already know the definition of it. Note-taking. Maybe you groaned, maybe you smiled. However, you have to admit that note-taking has become much more effortless with the invention of the laptop. But is it better to take notes the old-fashioned way?

In a study published by Psychological Science, a group of students was instructed to either write or type notes. While the typing group wrote much more than the writing group, the writing group seemed to comprehend more of the content. Since the writing group couldn’t write as quickly as the typing group, so they had to be pickier about what they wrote. But to do so, they had to actually understand the information to write down the most important parts.

The typing group, on the other hand, had enough time to write down what they were told to the letter. In the end, both groups were asked questions about the notes. Both groups did well in remembering facts, but the writing group did significantly better at answering application questions than the typing group.

Even when the typing group was asked to not write down the information verbatim, most were unable to do so. The more word-for-word notes they wrote, the more poorly they did on the tests. Then, the group was allowed to review their notes. Still, the writing group did better. The message was clear: “the pen is mightier than the keyboard”. Well, pencils too.

There are many ways to improve your note-taking. You can use different colored pens with different fonts and different sizes. Handwriting associates a mental bond with the physical movement of your hand, something typing can never replicate. Although it takes a longer time than typing, it is definitely worth it.

Technology can be your friend or your worst enemy. Know your limits. Find other ways to entertain yourself. Pick up a whatcha-ma-call-it? Oh yeah, a book. Put your phone away from time to time, and enjoy the colors outside, not on your screen.