HEALTH

According to experts, smartphones are causing mass-scale cases of "digital amnesia," the inability to remember small, simple things because of the awareness that they are stored in our devices. Why bother remembering it, after all, if you know you can look it up later?  

It's not all bad, however. Not having to focus on minor or currently irrelevant details may actually allow us to have more room in our brains for new, important information. Sure, we might not remember our great-aunt's birthdays, but we may be more efficient learners when it comes to other, more complicated concepts.

Still, our reliance on tech is a little startling—Glamour.com reports that 44% of people don’t know their siblings' phone numbers off the top of their head, and 28.9% of people forget things as soon as they’re done looking them up online. The takeaway? Phones and computers die, malfunction and get lost, so knowing how to contact your family in an emergency or even just remembering your bestie’s birthday can certainly be helpful. While tech has definitely revolutionized our lives, don’t let it take over your real-life mind. 

Do you feel like you have digital amnesia? What could you do to become less reliant on technology?

by Katy Herman | 2/1/2016