Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

The Sunday Times has an article in which a study at Japan's Hokkaido University attributed increased memory loss in "young people" to the increased reliance on computer technology. The study points out that 10 percent of 150 subjects between the ages of 20 and 35 suffered from severe memory loss.

While it's definitely true that I don't remember most of my friends' numbers anymore (I don't even remember their presets on my cell phone), I'm curious about what motivates pundits to locate the problem in technology, per se. Should the hypothesis be "electronic storage devices increase memory loss" or "external storage devices increase memory loss"? One feature of the study notable of its absence is a control group of any kind: non-PC/PDA users (electronic storage); or control group that's much harder to construct -- non-pencil/paper users (external storage).

I've been using SuperMemo for the past five weeks to teach myself Spanish, and I can't even imagine how I would a learned a fraction of the material I've memorized without my Visor and this program. Even after only a month, I can understand nearly half of the Spanish conversations I overhear.

Is anyone out there feeling dumbed down by the Visor?

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
Is anyone out there feeling dumbed down by the Visor?

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I guess if you think about it, it's true. But, having a Visor that remembers the important stuff for me is the reason I got it in the first place. I don't feel dumbed down by it... rather, I feel it enhances me... allows me to remember more stuff!

Now, what was the original topic of this thread?

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 714

Heh, thanks to AvantGo I get exposed to more National & World news than I normally would so most of my friends percieve me as more inteligent because of it.

Boy do I have them fooled!

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Matt Nichols
[email protected]

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 219

Yeah it sounds like a really unfounded hypothesis to me. It may be true that young people are losing memory and becoming "stupid" but I don't understand how this professor tied it to computer & PDA. There is no firm evidence--he is just guessing. He gives an example of a guy who had to quit work because he couldn't remember where he was going or what he was doing. But it doesn't say anywhere that he was an avid computer or PDA user. It could be anything--psychological, environmental, social, or early onset of Alzheimers. I wish I could read the original article or study. Hokkaido University is a very reputable national university in Japan, but I don't buy this one. I can't believe they are wasting people's tax on dubious "study" like this.

[Edited by Taki on 02-07-2001 at 07:24 AM]

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Taki
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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

My very simplistic view is that, we may be remembering less DATA (e.g. phone numbers) but we are are using that brain space with newfound KNOWLEDGE (e.g. how to get the most utilization out of 8mb).

Maybe he's scared that one day we'll end up with the A.I. world propounded in other threads.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

Not this again...

I seem to remember a [probably apocryphal] story about some ancient philosopher lamenting the alarming decline in memory power among new students due to this new-fangled thing called "writing"

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

The point of the visor is to free up brain power. I may be less able to remember phone numbers, but I am more able to formulate abstract philosophical and mathematical concepts.

Einstein: "I don't crowd my memory with facts that I can easily find in an encyclopedia."

Change "encyclopedia" to "visor" (and soon the visor will *be* an encyclopedia...), and you get the gist of my argument.

Dieter

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

Am I a genius???

quote:

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Originally posted by dietrichbohn
The point of the visor is to free up brain power. I may be less able to remember phone numbers, but I am more able to formulate abstract philosophical and mathematical concepts.

Einstein: "I don't crowd my memory with facts that I can easily find in an encyclopedia."

Change "encyclopedia" to "visor" (and soon the visor will *be* an encyclopedia...), and you get the gist of my argument.

Dieter

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

I agree whole-heartedly. I can't tell you what I'm doing tomorrow because that's what my visor is for. But I can ace my tests in some fairly difficult classes. Memory is not intelligence. My computer can have a 500 gig hard drive but if it only has 32k of working memory I'm screwed. Very similar with the human brain, except I believe the brain can switch from one to the other. If I spend 45 minutes memorizing information it doesn't get me very far. Spending my time thinking about the information allows me to extrapolate hypothetical situations. Imagination takes me far beyond the limits of memorization. The problem is that most tests in high school and college measure memorization and not pure, creative thinking ability.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

IT'S NOT TRUEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT can't be. I won't belive it!

I already have bad memory at 14, I don't want t oknow what it will be at 20

IT'S NOT TRUEEE!!!!!!!!!

-md

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Midwest
Posts: 232

What you don't use, you lose. Rely on a computer to keep your phone numbers or appointments, and your brain will find something better to do with it's resources.

In my life I've been an expert at garden plants(K-mart patio department for 5 years during college). I can't name the plants in my own front yard now, but it's been 20 years since K-mart, so I'm not surprised. I've been an expert on small electronic parts (radio shack electronic kits addict when a teenager) but I can't tell a resistor from a diode anymore. I stopped making those kits at about 17, so it's no surprise either.

Keep using your brain for a task, and it will remain good at it. I won furniture design contests as a college student. I've been teaching furniture design since then, and I still win design awards for my designs. I started playing with computers in 1981. I still play with them. I'm my college department's computer expert.

Your brain can still learn things at any age. I got interested in home theater and universal remote controls 4 years ago. My friends consider me an expert on those subjects, even though I didn't know a DVD from a DSS when I started. I got a Visor for Christmas. Many of my faculty friends have had palms for several years, but are coming to me for advice. They consider me their palm expert now.

Am I worried about Japanese kids? No. I'm a little afraid at what productive and inventive things their minds are now free to conjure up.

Dave. -<A witness to the potential of young and old minds.>

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There is nothing yet made by man that cannot be improved upon.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by DBrown
Am I worried about Japanese kids? No. I'm a little afraid at what productive and inventive things their minds are now free to conjure up.

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__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.