Intro to Cognitive Psychology Week 6

 Zach Tran

Intro to Cognitive Psychology

10/15/23

Technology & Working Memory

    I believe that overall, technology and its rapidly developing advancements are leading to worsening memory in people. Technology means that people have more access than ever to information and assistance that makes it easer to solve problems and go day-to-day in life without having to remember all the information that we need. On the other hand, however, this overload of information and all the resources that we have access to can lead to worse memory as a consequence.

    I believe short-term memory is impacted so significantly and in a negative way because all the information the we have access to. The internet and all of its resources, such as Wikipedia, YouTube, research, databases, and guides mean that whether it's doing a job or learning new things in everyday life, you don't need to remember things as much because the information is always at your fingertips. Regarding short-term memory, some of the more distracting aspects of technology nowadays makes it even more difficult to stay focused. There are so many apps that vie for your attention, such as Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, and so on. These aspects of technology aim to keep you addicted and coming back. When they succeed, you are overloaded with so much information and dopamine that your short term memory reaches its maximum capacity and struggles to function. These are just some of the dangerous aspects of rapidly changing technology that make it harder for our short term memory to function.

    On the other hand, I believe that it is possible for there to be upside in regards to memory as a result of new technology. Having access to so much information means that there is also useful information, such as guides, encyclopedias, and research. If one can learn to tune out distractions, the accessibility of all this information means that people can focus on learning how to do things rather than just memorizing. As a result, we can work with our working memory and focus on learning how to do things rather all the details. An example is computer programming. There are so much many different programming languages and ways of programming, and it is possible to memorize and learn all of them. Thus a skilled programmer will focus on learning the foundations of programming, so that when a problem arises for them, they can research and learn how to solve the problem on their own. It is impossible to memorize the solution to every possible problem ever, but new technology makes it possible to focus on their working memory and learn and remember how to problem solve rather than every possible little detail. This is one aspect of memory that new advancements in technology can actually be of benefit to. 

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