Search engines, GPS maps and other tech can alter our ability to learn and remember. Now scientists are working out what AI might do.
Last year, Oxford University Press announced that its word of the year was ‘brain rot’ — the deterioration of someone’s mental state caused by consuming trivial online content.
What do you think? Is widespread use of AI going to harm memory and thinking skills? If you grew up before the Internet and smartphones, have you noticed effects on people?
I’ll be honest: I bought it to “laugh at it” and I expected to disagree with it, but he was very informative and compelling and totally changed my mind about it.
Of special interest to mnemonists is his discussion of the change from an oral culture to a literate culture brought about by reading and writing.
Some may want to add Utopia is Creepy if they like The Shallows.
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari is good reading too.
Manfred Spitzer is one of the OGs in this space too. Not sure if his Digitale Demenz ever made it into English translation, but worth reading if you can.
I personally have been using the term “digital amnesia” for a long time.
I feel that it’s a bit more forgiving than digital dementia. And evokes a bit more hope.
The number one point I would hope people take away from Josh’s share is how some people are not remembering directions after consulting apps.
The reduction of spatial memory is especially savage given how much the Memory Palace technique relies on it.
There’s technology we use, and technology that uses us - the creation of which, combined with modern manipulative psychology of addiction, is motivated to control us, our spending, our thinking, and even harm our productivity in some cases - I believe.
AI has more of a place for the moment, with discernment and eyes wide open… even if only for the moment.
Researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University recently published a study looking at how using generative AI at work affects critical thinking skills. “Used improperly, technologies can and do result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved,” the paper states.
The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) in knowledge workflows raises questions about its impact on critical thinking skills and practices. We survey 319 knowledge workers to investigate 1) when and how they perceive the enaction of critical thinking when using GenAI, and 2) when and why GenAI affects their effort to do so. Participants shared 936 first-hand examples of using GenAI in work tasks. Quantitatively, when considering both task- and user-specific factors, a user’s task-specific self-confidence and confidence in GenAI are predictive of whether critical thinking is enacted and the effort of doing so in GenAI-assisted tasks. Specifically, higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking. Qualitatively, GenAI shifts the nature of critical thinking toward information verification, response integration, and task stewardship. Our insights reveal new design challenges and opportunities for developing GenAI tools for knowledge work.