Kaspersky, a software maker, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 Americans to better understand the “Google effect”. According to experts, this is digital amnesia, as memory is no longer so important — as we have the internet and all information just a tap away. See: this is not a disorder, just an adaptation of our era.

If digital amnesia could be explained in just one sentence, Kaspersky indicates that it is “the experience of forgetting information that is stored on some device you trust, being easily accessible”. With this, research has shown that there is a connection between availability of information on gadgets and our brain storage.

In addition to the Kaspersky experts, two other major participants helped with the research: Dr. Kathryn Mills (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) and Dr. Maria Wimber (School of Psychology University of Birmingham).

Other information showed that 67.4% of the interviewees managed to remember the telephone number of their own home during childhood/adolescence and a third could not remember the numbers of their children, family members or co-workers. Before, it was necessary to memorize everything — or write it down in a physical address book.

“The act of forgetting something is not intrinsically a bad thing. We are highly adaptable creatures and we just don't remember everything because it's not an advantage anymore. The act of forgetting only becomes a bad thing when it involves losing information that we really need to know. The act of memorization is a skill, and it is also important as a cognitive tool for navigating this world. Bottom line: being able to memorize is an important skill to have, but only if we really need it,” explained Dr. Mills.

Conclusion

According to Kaspersky, the only problem is our extreme reliance on online devices to store “our life” — obviously, since it's a company that develops antivirus.

An important point is the issue of losing this vital information in an easy way, from the physical theft of a gadget to the action of some malware or rootkit. For example, the company noticed that in 2014, 24% of Mac users and 32% of Windows users suffered a virus attack.

Additionally, the company noted that digital amnesia is a growing trend among people of all ages — not just the younger generations. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the direction and implications of this to protect our data.

At the end of the day, we're not the ones getting stupid or forgetful. We are just undergoing “brain adaptation” during the flood of technology we see. As explained by Dr. Mills, we are highly adaptable creatures, so don't worry if you forget your house number when you were a kid.