Is the internet rewriting our minds? Technology reshaping the way we remember

Imagine driving confidently through familiar streets, only to get completely lost when your GPS fails.

- BIJU DHARMAPALAN

Imagine driving confidently through familiar streets, only to get completely lost when your GPS fails. This often happens to people of the present generation. There was a time when auto drivers and taxi drivers of every other city in our country were aware of the nook and corner of the city. The addiction and reliance on Google Maps have made a situation so bad that today's drivers don't even know the streets close to their area. This seemingly minor incident reflects a larger, unsettling question: How much are we relying on technology to do our remembering for us?

In the digital age, our minds are adapting—or perhaps surrendering—to external memory tools like search engines, digital assistants, and AI. Scientists are diving deep into how this growing dependence affects our memory, learning, and even our sense of self.

The rise of 'digital amnesia'

Adrian Ward from Austin, Texas, experienced this phenomenon firsthand. After nine years of driving confidently around the city, he suddenly found himself getting lost. His Apple Maps app had stopped working, leaving him disoriented and struggling to find his friend's house—a place he had visited many times before.

Ward's experience reflects a growing concern among psychologists: that technology is eroding our natural memory. In recent years, it has spawned terms like digital amnesia—forgetting information because we trust our devices to remember it for us. Oxford University Press even named brain rot its word of the year, describing mental deterioration caused by consuming trivial online content.