It used to be easy to remember certain information like a telephone number or directions to a friend's house, but as technology becomes more prevalent in everyday life the more we seem to departmentalize our lives and information. The use of cell phones, emails, and Facebook have allowed us to store certain parts of our lives or information on technological devices. Now, is this something that will be beneficial for us, or are our brains going to be so dependent on technology that our thought process is going to completely change?
In the Atlantic Monthly article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Billout points out that he has noticed a change in his thinking. His mind starts to drift after reading a couple pages from a book, when before he was able to peruse voluminous novels with complete focus. Even though he admits that the internet is very beneficial because of the wide variety of information available, it seems to have consequences on our minds.
Billout wrote, "'As we are drained of our 'inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,' Foreman concluded, we risk turning into ‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button."
This quote points out that if we keep off-loading information into devices, there won't be much of anything left in our brains. I definitely think that off-loading information might have a negative affect on us all, and I have noticed a change in the way I think as well, but I know plenty of people who use technology to off-load their memory and they definitely have not turned into 'pancake people.' My one friend Chris inputs all of his assignments, appointments, and class times in his cell phone's calender. For him, it is beneficial because it allows him to concentrate on the important things while the cell phone does the busy work. He sort of sees it as a Nanny that people can use to organize their busy lives.
This correlates with my theory of iExist. We are using technology and communication mediums to off-load and catalog certain parts of our lives. Our existence and sometimes well being becomes dependent on these devices and mediums. We start to have a presence not only on the web, but also in these technological tools. Society seems to be embedding certain parts of existence into technology.
Personally, I find that my cell phone and my gmail and Facebook accounts help me the most. I don't have to memorize my friends' numbers because I have it in the palm of my hand. My gmail calender sends me an email when something is due or I have an important event to go to (it came in handy with my finals schedule as well). I have to admit that it is very hard to remember all of my friends' birthdays, so Facebook really helps with that because it alerts me before hand; I can't miss a thing with Facebook. Although, this can at times be negative. For instance, my mom cannot remember my dad's cell phone number without looking it up in her cell. We can sometimes forget or push certain important information out of our minds because we can depend on other technologies to remember for us.
As far as audience goes, everyone can use these technologies. It can be extremely beneficial, especially for college students that work, go to five classes, and try to balance a social life in there too.There haven't really been any other communication mediums that allow people to do this in the past; this is something new. Newspapers, radio, and television would give information not store it for people's everyday use. However, this does remind me or the parasocial relationship and the Mass Effects theory. Our devices now store our memories and are a part of us so much that we have relationships with them, or we have a relationship with ourselves in a different format. The Mass Effects theory states that media will have uniform effects on society, and it's clear that off-loading our memories are causing us to think differently. It really depends on the extent that we off-load our memory to devices like cell phones and organizers. How we use these technologies and how we allow them to affect us, will determine the result on our thought processes.
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