Extensive use of Internet and smartphones can weaken your memory: Kaspersky Study

With information easily accessible by the swipe of a finger, reliance on digital devices becomes quite natural. In our increasingly hyper-connected world, people simply have too many phone numbers, addresses, tasks and events in their calendar, account names, passwords, PIN codes and so on. We couldn’t remember everything even if we wanted to, but can access the information on demand when we need it via a connected device.

Kaspersky Lab has conducted global research to analyze how digital devices and the Internet affect the way people recall and use information today – and what, if anything, they are doing to protect it.

As many researchers say, when we store information externally (e.g. in a phone), we thereby encourage our mind to erase it. Scientists say that forgetting is not a bad thing at all: our brains have a capacity limit in terms of how much information is accessible.

If we do not recall old memories, information gradually fades until we forget it. A brain can also overwrite irrelevant data with more topical facts and memories. That’s why during the study more than half of the surveyed adult Europeans could not recall their children’s or their office phone numbers without looking into their mobile phones. Around a third were not able to remember their partner’s number.  The results showed that 91% of Americans surveyed admitted their dependency on the Internet and devices as a tool for remembering and as an extension of their brain. Similarly, 79.5% of the Europeans surveyed, admit using the Internet as a universal reference book.

All the information that we previously had to memorize or look for elsewhere is now stored just a few clicks away. At the same time it’s not the question of convenience only, but of necessity as well: 61% of European respondents say they need answers quickly and simply don’t have enough time for libraries or books.