Marisa made some really interesting points recently about “young people today” and the way they think. It got me thinking and I wonder if anyone can identify with what I’ve noticed. Remember the days when you could remember phone numbers? You knew all the important people by heart.
Remember the day when you could remember addresses? They were logged in your memory. What about birthdays? You could recall all the most important ones easily…you just knew which day they were on. Well it’s either my age (I’m 34 – nearly) or it’s my younger days catching up with me, but I just don’t seem to have the buttons any more to remember this kind of stuff.
My theory is that because of my mobile, because of my social networks, because of Outlook – I have a mind muscle which I’ve allowed to wither away to nothing. I’m not sure I care, but it’s interesting to note all the same. What on earth might I prioritise and deprioritise in terms of memory in
ten years time? Will I need virtual prompts for the names of loved ones too?
This came to light when a friend of mine asked when a mutual friend’s birthday was. We knew it was in March, we just didn’t know when; yet I’ve known this mutual friend for twelve years. We have decided it’s the mutual friend’s fault as she’s not on Facebook, and therefore we don’t get the automatic reminder. She’s not playing the game. I need those automatic reminders of when the most important events are happening that I have completely forgotten about.
Am I alone in this? Is it age? Is it a general trend? Or am I just a bad person? Or are we all beginning to rely on the Mind of the Machine? This looped me back to the rather lovely classic by N-Trance, which I’d like to reference as my closing point. N-Joy.
The Naked Pheasant 
February 25, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Definitely agree about the withering mind muscle. I’ve had a new phone number for nearly 6 months now and it just hasn’t stuck, couldn’t even tell you what’s after 07 something something.
Technology has made the mind lazy in respect of memory.
N-Trance? You old raver, get your Moog out.
February 25, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Hi some one once said to me that the brain was a muscle and the less you use it like any muscle the less it works – so you have to give it a work out like your legs or abbs to keep it in top condition, but as we grow older like with the depletion of muscle tissue in the body I expect its the same with the brain, mine is probably the size of a pea, if I’m as old as my son says I am, but if I’m as old as I feel its about the size of a micro organisiam then again if its based on the age I behave then my brain is huge – in the meantime I cant quite remember why I started writing this? anyone out there who knows me please remind me – oh and if I forgot your birthday card sorry only all my friends must be getting old too, as I don’t seem to get many myself these days
February 25, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I don’t know–I don’t think that we’re using our minds *less* per say, I think we’re just using them differently.
I mean think about it, there’s far more going on every single day of our lives now than there was even ten years ago. We’re constantly multitasking, balancing technology, real-life, world events. We’ve got a constant stream of information flowing towards us via breaking news, the mobile Web and Twitter.
I’d almost argue we’re using our minds far *more* today than we ever have, because we’re processing, learning, and consuming far more information every single second of every single day.
Our memories? They might be a little neglected–but at the same time, the amount of things we’re learning keep us trained to remember little details and interesting things. One of the best parts of social media services is that every bit of content fed to us is something we have chosen ourselves, and something we’re interested in. I mean, it’s proven: the more interesting you find something, the more likely you are to remember it.
So, to recap:
– more information, constantly, from multiple sources, every day
– learning more and working harder to process that information
– information is more targeted, relevant, and memorable
I dunno. Just my two cents. 😉 Keep up the great blog entries!
@alexpriest
April 4, 2010 at 1:44 am
What was it like?