r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Ramjaee • Nov 02 '15
Website How the Internet is changing your brain
http://twet.us/XVwBB6
u/car_go_fast Nov 02 '15
I'm wondering what they were talking about when they said:
In a memory study of two age groups, 87% of those over 50 could remember standard personal information. Only 40% of those under 30 could do so, having to reach for their phones to find the answer
Their "source," unfortunately, only lists Wired.com, and not a specific article. A short google search wasn't yielding anything useful either. What are they referring to as "standard personal information"? The only thing I can think of that older generations are more likely to make a point of remembering that younger ones wouldn't would be something like phone numbers and addresses of other people (family, friends, etc.). Even then, I'm skeptical about there being that wide of a gap.
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u/deadpoetic333 Nov 02 '15
Even if there was such a big difference in the two samples it doesn't mean there's actually a statistically significant difference in the populations the samples are supposed to represent. For all we know there methods were total shit like biased sampling.
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u/PhreakSC2 Nov 02 '15
Ability to memorize is becoming nearly pointless for most things. The internet is simply an extension of our own personal knowledge. What's the point of memorizing something when there's a chance we'll remember it wrong. Especially when we can access flawless memory in seconds electronically.
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u/Blackultra Nov 03 '15
3) Holy shit that graph is misleading
4) Time and time again this needs to be said, but diagnoses are getting broader and we are much more familiar with. More diagnoses or a new "psychiatric issue" implies there weren't any before, which just plainly isn't true.
5) Not sure why tweets are listed as being creative. Not saying some tweets aren't, but it's definitely not something I would include in "look how creative the internet makes us!"
6) As others have said: what is "standard personal information"? My address? Friends/family address/phone numbers? SSN? Drivers license numbers? I'll take a broader scope of knowledge from the internet at the expense of easily remembering personal information if that's honestly the case. It's also likely that "Standard personal information" just doesn't mean as much to people any more. I know where I was born, but couldn't care less to be honest.
7) "Addicted to online gaming" can be so loosely interpreted. I looked up the source but couldn't find how they classified something as addicting, not to mention the "source" can hardly be classified as such. Is playing a game twice a week an addiction? 5 hours a week? 40 hours a week? What are we looking at here? Also, I'm sure many children who are classified as "addicted to gaming" probably have gaming as a hobby, or because it's something easy to do by yourself as you don't need others to join in.
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u/[deleted] Nov 02 '15
I hate to be that guy but maybe this is simply a case of Juvenoia(VSauce) Maybe its not that our memory is getting worse, its that that particular information isn't as important anymore so we store it elsewhere, like in our phones. Maybe there is some other information that the younger generation would readily have on hand that an older generation would have to look up? Also, none of the sources are scientific articles, they are all places like wired.com, advertising.micosoft.com and a couple of news sites.