Smartphone users risk becoming amnesiac

By NewsGram Staff Writer

In the era of technology with information of anything and everything available online, Google has become the new memory bank.

As per a survey conducted by Internet security solution provider, Kaspersky, almost half the world population uses the internet as an extension of their brains while 75 per cent people use it as a conduit to the information storage bank.

Conducted on more than 1,000 Indian respondents between June 23 and July 2, the survey surmises that almost half of the people are not using their own memory or that they are just not interested in remembering facts.

25 per cent respondents 'strongly agreed' that it was essential to just remember the source of the information, while 48 per cent 'slightly agreed' with the contention.

One justification for the memory crisis is the fact that there is an information overload in the overall scheme of things. Incredibly high digital communication has meant that much information flows through avenues such as Facebook, Twitter among other social media sites.

However, the survey also throws light on the start of a dangerous phenomenon; addiction.

"It is not just about reliance but rather something more sever, an addiction. The smartphone addiction may lead to amnesia, which should not be taken lightly.

It is very important to limit dependency on smartphones primarily because of its addictive properties," Altaf Halde, MD at Kaspersky Lab said.

Further highlighting the scope of its pernicious effects, the survey says that smartphone dependency decreases with age, implying that youngsters are more prone to damaging their memory with unhindered smartphone usage.

However, the shift in memory source has not been tremendous. 55 per cent of people still choose to use their memory for remembering things while 31 per cent prefer the on-line route.