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The Internet has made it very easy look up whatever we need. The Internet has become the latest source of transactive memory. In a study conducted at Columbia University, scientists have found that “the internet is changing the nature of what we remember, making us more likely to recall where the facts are rather than the facts themselves” (Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner). All of the data on the World Wide Web is not “overwhelming,” but what is overwhelming is our inability to store and use it properly. We do not try to memorize information as much anymore because we can easily look up the information that we need. What is making us look “stupid” is the fact that this country’s education system is based on memorizing and regurgitating information for exams and not really focusing on learning effectively. The reality is that this is not how we learn effectively and we are getting blamed for it. According to Dr. Sparrow, “our minds have been adapting to our technology.” We are getting better at utilizing our external “memory” to remember where to find the information we need quickly, instead of wasting space remembering short-term information (Sparrow; Internet Dependence on the Brain). Therefore, Google and the Internet are not necessarily making us “dumber” per say, in reality it is the fact that our education system is one step behind us. The fact that the older generations do not completely understand that generation y’s minds have begun adapting to the technology around us is understandable and will require more research to further validate these
