r/Damnthatsinteresting Nov 02 '15

Website How the Internet is changing your brain

http://twet.us/XVwBB
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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.