Psychologists theorize that the GOOGLE EFFECT causes our memories to weaken due merely to the fact that we know we can look something up, which means we do not keep pounding away at the neural pathways that strengthen memory.

The natural digital user might say, so what? I can GOOGLE whatever I need, whenever I need it. Unfortunately, when facts are no longer accessible to our conscious mind, but only look-up-ables, CREATIVITY suffers. New ideas come from novel combinations of diverse, seemingly unrelated elements. The more elements-facts-knocking around in your brain the more possible combinations there are, and the more chances for a CREATIVE idea or invention. Off-loading more and more knowledge to the internet therefore threatens the very foundations of CREATIVITY.

Besides letting us outsource memory: smartphones and GOOGLE let us avoid activities that many people today find difficult, boring or even painful; DAYDREAMING, INTROSPECTING, THINKING THROUGH PROBLEMS. Those are all so repulsive, it seems, that nearly half of people in a 2014 experiment whose smartphones were briefly taken away preferred receiving electric shocks than being alone with their thoughts.

The GOOGLE EFFECT causes our brains to take a pass on retaining or recalling facts. When we need it we just look it up. Getting into this habit of knowing that you can look up the fact or information, you can end up not storing many facts. As Steve Jobs has stated, CREATIVITY is uniting two unrelated ideas together. It is helpful to have those ideas in your memory.

JUST GOOGLE IT. NO!!!! BE A DAYDREAMER, BE INTROSPECTIVE, THINK IT THROUGH. THEN TRY SOMETHING INNOVATIVE.

Categories: PERSPECTIVES Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.