Ed. note: Today we are pleased to present a guest post from Natalie Hunter of Online Schools. Click on her name above for a full biography.

For many people, the boon of the information age means we have an unprecedented amount of knowledge at the click of a mouse, and can access news, facts, and trivia from across the globe in a matter of moments. However, this wealth of information comes at a price: recent studies on the subject indicate that the proliferation of Internet use has changed how we use our minds, and specifically our memory.

Research indicates that brain function or our capacity to recall is not at issue, but rather how we use our memory. A recent article in the New York Times cites a pivotal study on how we remember information and access it. Led by Dr. Betsy Sparrow from Columbia University, along with colleagues from Harvard and the University of Wisconsin, the study used four different memory experiments to test participants’ cognitive skills. Half of the group believed that the information they entered was stored in the computer for later use, while the other half believed the information was erased after entry. The study found that the participants retained much more information when they believed it was unavailable later, versus when the information was “available” on the computer. The part of our memory (known as transactive memory) accesses the part of the brain that tells us where to find the information, instead of holding onto the actual data. In generations past, that meant of relying on a friend, coworker, or reference material for the information we needed, but today the Internet serves as one of our main tools to access transactive memory. The abundance of a readily available trove of knowledge only serves to decrease our ability to memorize and retain information.

Another development involves the methods we use to gather and retain information. Recent articles on the subject, including an article in Atlantic Monthly, illuminate that the method of reading we use on the Internet does not translate to retaining or storing information in our memory. In short, the more time we spend browsing the Net and skimming through articles, the more difficultly we have remembering what we have read. Additionally, this type of information-gathering makes reading longer texts and books more of a challenge. We have trained our minds to rely less on holding onto data and more to use the Internet as an external storage device.

Despite these trends in how the Internet affects our memory, the situation is not as dire as you might think. Many recent studies demonstrate the malleability of memory and its ability to change to the circumstance and the need. An article in Psychology Today bemoans the dangers of multi-tasking and Internet use on our memory, but also offers hope. By deliberately reducing or eliminating sources of distraction and consciously focusing on the task or information at hand, we can improve our cognitive function and ability to retain information.

Not all of these developments are cause for alarm. Just as the burgeoning effect of the written word assisted by the invention of the printing press rendered the oral history obsolete, the Internet diminishes the need to rely on our memory as the repository for knowledge. We can now focus our mental energies on greater tasks of analysis and understanding, and turn to Google to find trivia like the birth name of Genghis Khan (it’s Temujin, by the way).

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