Study: why bother to remember when you can just use Google?

infoneer-pulse:

In the age of Google and Wikipedia, an almost unlimited amount of information is available at our fingertips, and with the rise of smartphones, many of us have nonstop access. The potential to find almost any piece of information in seconds is beneficial, but is this ability actually negatively impacting our memory?

» via ars technica

Curious, isn’t it, that almost 2400 years ago, Socrates had precisely the same fear about the new technology of his time — writing:

“This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.” — Plato, The Phaedrus

— Visual Turn

Source: infoneer-pulse

71 Notes/ Hide

  1. dana-artist reblogged this from visualturn
  2. straighthook reblogged this from realizethestrength
  3. thingsbehindourhouse reblogged this from tesladrianne
  4. rinfish reblogged this from realizethestrength
  5. realizethestrength reblogged this from tesladrianne and added:
    I have said this for years. Things I had no trouble remembering in the past are tiresome to commit to memory now. We’re...
  6. tesladrianne reblogged this from energyface and added:
    i’m all over this debate lately, thanks to this education thing that i’m getting. fascinating stuff.
  7. standingonachair reblogged this from infoneer-pulse and added:
    The Greek philosophers called this centuries ago. It’s true with any technology.
  8. familiarenigma reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  9. didakticodix reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  10. knittingandsljivovica reblogged this from teachingliteracy and added:
    As someone who grew up largely without internet access, and has always had terrible memory (worsened by some medical...
  11. edspotlight reblogged this from teachingliteracy and added:
    In the age of Google and Wikipedia, an almost unlimited amount of information is available at our fingertips, and with...
  12. lifeofgenius reblogged this from energyface and added:
    In the age of Google and Wikipedia, an almost unlimited amount of information is available at our fingertips, and with...
  13. goandgetyours reblogged this from visualturn and added:
    I wonder if this explains why my spelling sucks…well I guess it’s always sucked…but it sucks even more now.
  14. simonpitt reblogged this from markellison
  15. notinportland reblogged this from kenyatta
  16. energyface reblogged this from visualturn
  17. markellison reblogged this from kenyatta and added:
    Glad I stumbled upon this post. It sounds related to something I jotted down about 6 weeks ago into my “to research”...
  18. visualturn reblogged this from infoneer-pulse and added:
    Curious, isn’t it, that almost 2400 years ago, Socrates had precisely the same fear about the new technology of his time...
  19. hanakochan reblogged this from teachingliteracy and added:
    In the age of Google and Wikipedia, an almost unlimited amount of information is available at our fingertips, and with...
  20. iamnotasaw reblogged this from kenyatta
  21. digi-knight reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  22. zoeisstheebest reblogged this from kenyatta
  23. naitsuga reblogged this from kenyatta
  24. kenyatta reblogged this from teachingliteracy
  25. atravisscorry reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  26. lettersintheampersand reblogged this from teachingliteracy