An Interesting Study

While there have been relatively few extensive studies on technology dependence and PM, there have been several notable studies that illustrate effects of technology dependence. A study, performed at the University of Dublin in 2007, revealed potential degeneration of memory. In this study of 3000 people, nearly one third of those under the age of 30 could not remember their home phone number without checking their mobile phones. With respect to birthdays of immediate family members, 87% of the people over 50 knew birthdays compared to 38% of those under 30. Other results of the two month study indicated that the majority (58 per cent) of the population wrongly believed that they were incapable of remembering the myriad of numbers and codes which they use in everyday life. Unfortunately, details of the study were not released, leaving several questions about other factors in the experimenting process.

Does Your Mobile Phone Make you Stupid or Smarter?

There has been a lot of hype lately about "Mobile Phone Addiction." They even have come up with Syndromes associated with different aspects of the phone. But lately, it seems our phones do everything for us. I wonder how this might affect our brains and our ability to remember things.

Internet, computer software, mobile phones, emails and time management programs create synthetic environmental cues. Just as people have been programming alarm clocks for decades, people are now programming entire days in advanced reminder software, e-mail alert systems, and through text messages. Such technology pervades every aspect of prospective memory, both time and event based.

Technology already exists that is capable of virtually replacing prospective memory in people that suffer from prospective memory disabilities. If such readily available technology has proven to replace prospective memory in those with disabilities, it can be argued that the same technology can impair it for people who do not necessarily need it. Current mobile technology is already merging GPS tracking into time management software making it possible to preprogram our days so that we are automatically reminded based on our locations. Such technology is available to most smart phone users. Increasing dependence on such technology may arguably eliminate the separation between time based and event based prospective memory, creating an environment where the only event is the reminder.

Can you imagine a future where we pre-program our lives in advance, and we walk around like robots. I have always learned not to judge, and would never make any claim that technology can hurt us, but it is an interesting subject to ponder.