Google replaces the brain
January 26th 2012 22:13
THE internet is becoming our main source of memory - instead of our own brains, a study has found.
Our minds are adapting so that we are experts at knowing where to find information - even though we don't remember what it is.
Researchers from Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Columbia University in the US found that when we want to know something we use the internet as an "external memory" just as computers use an external hard drive.
We are so reliant on our smart phones and laptops that we "go into withdrawal when we can't find out something immediately" and having our internet connection severed is growing "more and more like losing a friend".
The researchers said: "No longer do we have to make costly efforts to find the things we want. We can Google the old classmate, find articles online or look up the actor on the tip of our tongue.
"The internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored."
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