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Gadgets Have Taken Over For Our Brains

skotte writes "According to a Trinity College survey released Friday, the boom in mobiles and portable devices that store reams of personal information has created a generation incapable of memorizing simple things. In effect, the study argues, these devices have replaced our long-term memory capabilities. 'As many as a third of those surveyed under the age of 30 were unable to recall their home telephone number without resorting to their mobile phones or to notes. When it came to remembering important dates such as the birthdays of close family relatives, 87 per cent of those over the age of 50 could remember the details, compared with 40 per cent of those under the age of 30.'"

2 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Duh by Scarblac · · Score: 2, Informative

    They have no problem remembering them - after all that's what they use the devices for. Functionally it's the same thing as carrying them in your head, but now you can use the neurons for other things.

    This is only going to get more extreme over time, bring on the implants already.

    --
    I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
  2. Re:Feynman overhyped? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Uhh, lessee...

    That bomb thingie

    QED/that Nobel Prize thingie

    Working with Gell-Mann at Cal Tech, on stuff leading up to those quark thingies

    NASA's go-boom thingie in 1987

    I'm sure there's more, but it's early and I'm lazy. His lecture series is already at the 30-40+ year mark. It would have been better if he trained the next generation (like Bethe, who (helped) train him). But one can't do everything...