(notification beeping)
(clicking)
I've asked myself this question lately,
as I constantly check how to spell words,
Google historical events,
and even look up simple directions.
- [Electronic Voice] Turn left.
- I even use Facebook to remember my parents' birthday.
And apparently I'm not alone.
Studies show that using technology
is affecting our ability to remember things.
Instead of our brains storing information,
frequent use of search engines like Google
teach our brain to remember where we got the info from,
leading to more web searches in the long run.
Today, we'll explore how the abundance of tech
is affecting our brain,
and what it could mean for the future of society.
(futuristic chime)
(intense clicking chime)
(air whooshing)
- The problem with talking about
"Is our Smartphone making us dumb,"
is it's really difficult to test,
and it really boils it down as if there's like a binary.
With respect to the kinds of intelligence
that we might agree matter.
Do we have common sense?
How do we relate to others?
How do we socialize?
(upbeat music)
(air whooshing)
- [Andrew] Since the beginning of time,
humans have always been innovators.
Fire,
the wheel,
the Internet.
When we have a problem,
we create new tools to solve it,
making life way easier.
(static)
- Now that I've gotten on the Internet,
I'd rather be on my computer than doing just about anything.
♪ Take a spin now you're in with the techno set ♪
♪ You're goin' surfin' on the Internet ♪
(static)
- [Andrew] With the advert of the Internet,
Want to find the closest liquor store?
Easy.
Want to build a homemade rocket engine?
Well, that might not be easy.
But you get it.
The information is out there.
But there's a downside to this innovation.
Researchers have discovered that
(soothing music)
- [Brett] You might think,
like the GPS makes me smarter, right?
I can now find my way all over the place.
And in some sense,
that's true.
But again,
Who's engaged in route planning?
Certainly Google in ways
are gaining some intelligence, right?
They know more about you,
about where you are,
about where you go,
maybe of who you relate to.
The question's are you in fact smarter
because you can use this device,
or when you outsource navigation
and when you outsource your situational awareness
of like, your geography in the place you're in,
Your own development?
Your own development of skills?
- A four year study
by researchers of the University College London
showed that when cab drivers memorizing
network of twenty-five thousand streets in London,
they actually tended to grow more brain matter
in the hippocampus.
That's if the brain is taught to be the center
for long-term memory in the autonomic nervous system.
But when those cab drivers retired
or replaced their own navigational skills with a GPS,
data showed that the hippocampus
actually started to shrink back to its regular size.
Other research shows that
During a study with sixth graders,
UCLA researchers correlated more screen time
with less face-to-face interaction.
In the long run, the lack of human connection
led to decreased sensitivity to emotional cues
and the inability to understand
the emotions of other people.
(clicking)
(upbeat music)
Here's a not-so-fun fact.
A study from the University of Stavanger
showed that students that read physical text,
like from a book,
scored significantly higher in reading comprehension
than those who read the same thing from a screen,
like an iPad or a laptop.
(drum tapping)
Another aspect of technology
is it's constantly collecting huge amounts of our data.
Every time you browse the Web or open your favorite app,
your data is collected and stored.
Companies then use that data to help improve
their customer service,
execute more effective marketing campaigns,
and even sell it to third parties.
In Frischmann's book "Re-Engineering Humanity,"
he warns of a future society where
The more data collected,
the more sophisticated the devices will become.
This he says could cause humans to use their brains less,
making them more susceptible of being manipulated
when prompted by certain stimuli.
- The envisioned future of the Internet of things
where our homes are smart,
our hospitals are smart,
our streets are smart.
That's a world that's
We wanna think about how it affects us as human beings
when we're in those environments.
What room does that leave for you
to think and decide to yourself?
- So does technology make us dumb?
I guess that depends on what your definition of dumb is.
We remember less,
comprehend less,
and are exposed to more stresses
that change the way we socialize.
Some experts advise we lower the time
we spend looking at screens,
as it can reduce many of these adverse effects.
But as technology is integrated
in almost every aspect of life,