Google and Memory

Chances are you had to look something up recently. So you Googled it. As simple as that may seem, some argue. Google is changing the way we think and remember. Why does this happen? How does it impact the brain? Find out:

Google has a number of tools to help you with your daily activities. How big are their roles in your life? Learn more:

1.       Google Services as extensions of knowledge

·         Organization tool

·         Search tool

·         Language tool

·         Analysis tool

·         Images tool

Organization tool

·         Google Calendar: – Never forget an appointment. This tool remember all of your events, so you don’t have to.

·         Google Docs: – This service keeps your notes, document and more at your fingertips. You’ll never have to worry where, or if, you saved something.

·         Google Reader: – Don’t stress trying to remember that site you love to visit. Subscribe to all of your favorite sites via RSS, and Reader delivers all of their news to you.

Search tools

·         Google search: – Everything you want to know is a click away. Just enter the world you want to search and thousands of sources of information will appear in less than a second. Knowledge has never been this accessible.

Language tool

·         Google Translator: – Google automatically translates not just words, but entire pages to your first language. You can also check word’s spelling and pronunciations.

Analysis tool

·         Google Analysis: – This tools help you analyze you site’s traffic so you can optimize your marketing and conversions, meaning you don’t have to do any of the legwork.

Images tool

·         Google images: – If you can’t remember a landmark or painting’s name, don’t worry. Take a photo with your smartphone and Google will help you figure out what you’re looking at.

·         Google maps: – With the mobile application, you no longer need to memorize addresses and directions.

2.       How is Google changing our memory?

·         Past without Google: – Without internet access, if we wanted to know about something, we had limited source options to research it, like the available books in the nearby library. We found ways to memorize what we needed to know by leveraging our visual memory, being genuinely interested in the information, creating associations and more. The next time the same information isn’t available. We’re more likely to remember it since we took the time to enhance the information in our mind.

·         Present with Google: – With the internet, everything is just a click away. When we don’t know something, we are primed to turn to the computer to rectify the situation. With search engine available all the time, we often don’t encode the information internally, because when we need it, we look it up in the internet. When the information is save externally, we usually don’t memorize it, but rather remember the place we can find it.

3.       The Consequences

We are becoming symbiotic with our computer tools. We relate to them like they’re close friends in whom we can rely. But is that a good or bad thing?

Accessibility to a huge transitory memory

Good Consequences

·         We’ve stored information in our computer based memories and they’ve become more accessible than ever before.

·         Our recall is flawed. Every time we recall memory we also remake it. Google acts like a fact-checker, helping us avoid many errors.

·         Accessible information doesn’t necessarily weaken memories. It can reinforce them and be a great source for innovation.

Dependence and superficial knowledge

Bad Consequences

·         These tools have replaced our need to memorize many details; and without these tools we may be lost.

·         Our new habits may interfere in the development of deep, conceptual knowledge.

·         The internet is filled with incorrect information, which may lead to being misinformed.