Have you been forgetful lately? Blame your smartphone for it

Do you think you will wake up on time in the morning if the alarm doesn’t work? Do you remember the phone numbers of your close friends and family? Do you even remember your usual route to the office or school? We bet that most cannot recall these mundane memory tasks, because we have outsourced the work to our smartphones. 

But of course, like the saying in the modern world goes: the ‘smart’phones have made us dumber. Not just dumber, a new report says that it is making us more susceptible to memory loss much earlier in life than before. 

What does the report say? 

A Guardian report on digital amnesia details how, why, and if our reliance on technology is making us more forgetful. The report says that neuroscientists are divided on the subject. Some think that we have always outsourced mundane memory tasks to other devices, be it smartphones or writing down on a piece of paper, while others think we are using our ability to remember lesser and lesser, leading to eroding functions. 

“I don’t have a problem with using external devices to augment our thought processes or memory processes. We’re doing it more, but that frees up time to concentrate, focus on and remember other things,” Chris Bird, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Sussex told the Guardian. 

On the other hand, professor Oliver Hardt, researching the neurobiology of memory and forgetting at McGill University in Montreal, says the less we use our brain systems responsible for episodic memories, the more likely it is to get dementia. 

Barbara Sahakian, a neuroscientist from Cambridge says that an experiment conducted in 2010 showed how those exposed to instant messages continuously had a hard time remembering. During the experiment, one group got instant messages before the reading started, the other got messages during the task and the third group did not get any messages. The experiment found that those who got instant messages during the task, couldn’t remember what they read. 

The ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) study, the largest ongoing long-term study of brain development among children in the US, found that smartphone use can even change the brain. It found that children who were more exposed to technology had thinner cortex. Thinning of the cortex is expected at an older age and not at a young age, and it is associated with diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. 

The role of the pandemic: 

The Covid-19 pandemic has also had a role to play in recent times. Famously in India, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told the ED that due to Covid-19 he was facing memory loss issues when questioned about a money laundering case. 

Besides the politics, a 2021 survey also revealed that people felt worse about their memory abilities after the pandemic than before. It could be because of the stress, illness, and isolation combined with a barrage of general global bad news, that our memories are faltering. 

What should you do to mitigate the effects? 

General tech detoxification, learning new skills, or a language is usually recommended to mitigate the effects of amnesia. A good diet rich in B1 and B12 is also recommended along with adequate sleep and exercising. 

The immediate challenge: How much of this article will you remember after closing the tab?