“Digital dementia is this idea where our smart devices are making us less smart,” he explains on the mindbodygreen podcast. “They act as external memory drives for us, so we don’t need to flex our memory muscles.”
Think of the aforementioned phone number example: Now that our smartphones have the ability to save contacts, we don’t have to worry about memorizing people’s numbers—so we don’t. This, in a way, makes us more dependent on these devices. “You could be texting or calling somebody every single day,” says Kwik, but what if your phone had no battery or you didn’t have it on you? You’d be helpless!
That’s not to say you must memorize your entire contact list. “But it should be concerning to us that we’ve lost the ability to remember one [number], or a pin, or a passcode, or a seed phrase,” adds Kwik.
Technology is convenient, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t flex your memory muscles from time to time. It’s the same reason why experts recommend taking the stairs occasionally, even if you have access to an elevator—inactivity comes with a cost.
