Digital technology is ubiquitous. We are increasingly dependent on smartphones, tablets and computers and this trend has accelerated due to the pandemic.
Conventional wisdom tells us that over-reliance on technology can reduce our ability to remember, pay attention and exercise self-control.
In fact, these are important cognitive skills. However, fears that technology supplants cognition may not be well founded.
Technology alters society
Socrates, considered by many to be the father of philosophy, was deeply concerned about how the technology of writing would affect society.
Since the oral tradition of delivering speeches requires some degree of memorization, he was concerned that writing would eliminate the need to learn and memorize.
Plato famously wrote, quoting Socrates:
If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; They will stop exercising memory because they rely on what is written, calling things to memory no longer from within themselves, but through external marks.
This passage is interesting for two reasons. First, it shows that there was an intergenerational discussion about the impact of new technologies on the cognitive abilities of future generations.
This remains true to this day: the telephone, the radio and the television have been described as precursors to the end of cognition.
That brings us to the second reason why this quote it is interesting. Despite Socrates’ concerns, many of us are still able to memorize information when necessary.
Technology has simply reduced the need for certain cognitive functions, not our ability to perform them.
Worsening of cognition
In addition to the claims of the media, it has been interpreted that some scientific findings suggest that digital technology may lead to poorer memory, attention, or executive functioning.
However, when examining these statements, two important argumentative assumptions are noted.
The first assumption is that the impact has a lasting effect. or on long-term cognitive abilities.
The second is that digital technology has a direct and not moderate impact on cognition.
However, both assumptions are not directly supported by empirical findings.
A critical examination of the evidence suggests that the demonstrated effects have been temporary , not long-term.
For example, in a prominent study investigating people’s dependence on external forms of memory, it was less likely that participants will recall pieces of information when told that this information would be stored on a computer and that they would have access to it.
On the other hand, they remembered the information better when they were told that it would not be saved.
There is a temptation to conclude from these findings that the use of technology leads to poorer memory, a conclusion that the study authors or they didn’t get it.
When technology was available, people trusted it, but when it wasn’t available, people were still perfectly capable of remembering.
Thus, it would be hasty to conclude that technology impairs our ability to remember.
Furthermore, the effect of digital technology on cognition It could be due to a person’s motivation, rather than their cognitive processes.
Goals
In fact, Cognitive processes operate in the context of goals for which our motivations may vary. Specifically, the more motivating a task is, the more committed and focused we are.
This perspective reformulates the experimental evidence showing that Smartphones undermine performance on tasks of sustained attention, working memory, or functional fluid intelligence.
Motivational factors are likely to play a role in research results, especially considering that participants Research workers often find the tasks they are asked to do for study to be inconsequential or boring.
Because there are many important tasks that we perform using digital technology, such as keeping in touch with loved ones, answering emails, and enjoying entertainment, digital technology may undermine the motivational value of an experimental task.
It is important to note that this means that l digital technology does not harm cognition; If a task is important or interesting, smartphones will not undermine people’s ability to perform it.
Changing cognition
To make use of digital technology , internal cognitive processes are less focused on storing and computing information.
Instead, these processes convert information into formats that can be downloaded to digital devices, such as search phrases, to then reload and interpret.
This type of cognitive discharge is like the way people take notes in paper instead of storing certain information in long-term memory, or when children use their hands to help them count.
The main difference is that digital technology helps us download sets of information complexes more efficiently and efficient than analog tools, and it does so without sacrificing precision.
A significant benefit is that the internal cognitive ability that is freed from having to perform specialized functions like remembering a calendar appointment is left free for other tasks.
This, in turn, means that we can accomplish more, cognitively speaking , than we ever could before.
As such, it is not necessary to consider that digital technology competes with our internal cognitive process. Instead, it complements cognition by expanding our ability to do things.
L orenzo Cecutti is a marketing PhD candidate from the University of Toronto and Spike WS Lee is an associate professor of management and psychology day of the University of Toronto, Canada.
This article appeared on The Conversation. You can read the original version in English it ishere.
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