Technology has brought a lot of positivities to the world at the same time a lot of negativity. It has in a way made our world a better place and in another way, had became the foundation upon which our doom is built. No body can deny the fact that we have been living an artificial life ever since technology took over our domain. Several discoveries had been made to make our world a better place, all thanks to technology. And most of these discoveries are also the noose around our neck taking our breath away slowly.
Search engines like google has come to the world to revolutionize our learning system. The inventions of this software have actually placed all information around the world on our fingertips. We no longer need to visit a library or any books lending institution, to seek knowledge and carry out research- with just few clicks away on our smart phones or PC, lies any information we require.
Like no other generation, students and teenagers of today, appreciate the convenience of knowledge at their door steps. But the question is, "does Google actually support the learning process or does the overload of information distract the brain in the long run"?
The research, conducted by psychologists of Columbia and Harvard Universities, is the first of its kind to examine the effect of search engines on the human memory, the "google effects". The results suggest that the way our brain "saves" various information has changed significantly because of our "confidence" to find them online.
The researchers claimed that the Internet has now become a dominant form of transactive memory – recollections of information that are outside our minds but we know where and how to get them.
The survey was based on four different experiments that examined:
• How the participants relied on the search engines when memorizing something;
• How they remembered different information depending on whether they had access to it later or not;
• Whether they remembered better the information itself or where it can be found on their computer.
The results shows that most participants demonstrated a tendency to forget the things they were sure to find on the online and to remember those they couldn’t find internet. According to the researchers, the way our memory operates has changed significantly. People tend to remember better where they could find something on the Internet rather than the information itself.
This question is, does it now mean that we are becoming "Dumb"? or we are exploring new ways of better learning?Lets Hear your opinion!
