While fears are likely overblown, technology addiction and memory problems still need to be addressed. A new paper in Nature Human Behaviour states that technology is not making us dumber. Instead, smart technology changes how we engage our biological cognitive abilities. How we use technology is what matters.
Smart tech, dumb people
Smart technology is not making us dumb
- We are developing different relationships to cognition due to smart devices
- Using digital technology as an external memory system doesn’t account for the fact that short-term effects do not necessarily indicate long-term changes
- If you don’t use it, you lose it
More good than bad
Technology generally makes life better
- Five ways in which smart technologies are especially useful
- Complexity: Advances in computational ability free up cognitive resources so that coders and data scientists can focus on understanding data and building better programs
- External access -> Freed capacity: The internet offers far greater access to information than any previous technology
- Flexibility: People can freely choose what information to memorize and what to offload
- Self-insights and self-control: We can choose what to focus our attention on
There’s always some risk
While the team ably counters the fear-mongering around the “dumbing down” of humanity through technology, they also seem a bit too enthusiastic about championing its advancements.
- What happens if your smartphone or the internet stops working?
