Smarter devices, dumber people?

People using their smartphones, something you see wherever you go. It's amazing what you can stuff into a thing that fits (or is supposed to fit) in your pocket: books, hours of entertainment, compass, calculator, you name it. Whatever you need, there is a feature in your phone or an app that can help you. As an engineer I'm of course interested in all kinds of new technology and do use these cool features myself.

The smart devices I mentioned aren't limited to just phones anymore. Even our home appliances are smart nowadays: Fridges with internet connection that tell you what's inside, smart washing machines that make decisions based on your laundry etc. However, these features are not much compared to all the things you can do with your smartphone.

Everything is made easy. Smart devices do the thinking for us so we don't have to, but is this only a good thing?

"Let me check"

When we face challenges in everyday life, the first thing most of us do is take our phones and type a few words in google. Within a few seconds we have the opinion of a few million people right in front of our eyes. No need to think, just a couple of taps and the problem is solved. Need to make some calculations? "No problem, let me just take my phone". All this is incredibly useful and makes life much easier. But does it make life even too easy?

In a couple of years kids will look at the picture and say "What the heck is that thing?"

The brain gets lazy

Everyone knows that not using your muscles makes you lose muscle mass and force. However, a lot of people seem to forget that this type of thing can happen to your brain too. Obviously your brain won't shrink like muscles do, but you will lose some of your "mental force". It doesn't make you lose your intelligence for good, the brain just gets used to the thought process of "let me google it" instead of "hmm, I think I have the solution, just need to think for a while".

This has definitely happened to me in the last few years. The point where I noticed it was when I found myself typing something like 3+8 into my calculator. That's when I thought "oh hell no" and decided to try and use my brain more instead of just keeping them as dead weight.

I'm pretty sure some of you have noticed how easy calculations have become harder in the last few years, how it's harder to remember whether you had milk in your fridge or not and so on. Maybe you've even caught yourself doing something stupid like I did. Think about it, is your head doing the work anymore?

Give your brain something to work on

I'm not saying you should ditch your smartphone, start calculating everything in your head and learn memory techniques so you remember your shopping list with 30 items. What I am saying is: Give your brain some excercise every now and then.

• Make some simple (or more complex if you want a challenge) calculations in your head every now and then instead of reaching for the calculator
• Instead of making a note, try to memorize your shopping list if it only has a few items
• When faced with a problem, give yourself 5-10 minutes and try to solve it yourself before googling
• Challenge yourself to think about things that aren't familiar to you or try to find new aspects on things you do and see every day
• Etc.

It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you do something. Keep your brain fit, it makes your life easier.

As always, this is just my opinion so feel free to disagree.

P.s Here is a little brain teaser for all of you who made it here:

Each son in the family has just as many brothers as sisters, but each daughter has twice as many brothers as sisters.

How many boys and girls are there in the family?

Let me know if you got the answer all by yourself.
Peace.
-R