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.

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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.

But should we be worried? Daniel Schacter, a psychologist at Harvard University, offers a more balanced view. While technology certainly changes how we remember, there’s little evidence to suggest it’s causing widespread memory loss. Instead, it’s altering the kind of memory we use — shifting our focus from facts to finding where to access them.

Take GPS navigation as an example. Studies have shown that people who rely heavily on GPS are worse at recalling routes compared to those who navigate without it. This phenomenon is called cognitive offloading. Studies show that this habit of cognitive offloading — storing information externally — is convenient but can weaken our memory for those details over time.

How AI could change the game

If GPS and Google search have subtly changed how we recall facts and directions, AI tools like ChatGPT could have even deeper impacts. These generative AI models are not just providing answers; they are reshaping how we process and store information. One concern is that chatbots may promote cognitive laziness by doing too much of the thinking for us.

 Worse, they might implant realistic false memories. Generative AI is already being used to create deadbots — digital avatars of deceased individuals — raising questions about how technology could distort our memories of the past.

The ‘Google Effect’

The idea that the internet affects how we remember gained traction after a 2011 study by psychologist Betsy Sparrow. Her research showed that people often remember where to find information online better than the information itself. This is known as the Google effect, where the Internet acts as an external memory bank.

In everyday life, this happens more often than you think. For instance, you might search for a recipe online. The next time you cook the dish, you don’t recall the ingredients, but you remember which website had the recipe. Similarly, students often rely on online summaries when studying and later feel confident in their understanding, even though they’ve only skimmed the material.

Interestingly, Ward’s own research has revealed another twist. In one experiment, participants who used Google to answer trivia questions rated their own knowledge more highly than those who answered without searching. This illusion of competence — mistaking the Internet’s knowledge for our own — might explain why we’re often surprised when we can’t recall basic facts later.

Balancing memory and technology

So, is technology a threat to our memory, or a tool that makes life easier? The truth lies somewhere in between. Cognitive offloading can free up mental space for more complex tasks, but it comes with risks. Relying too heavily on external memory sources may reduce our ability to form deep, personal knowledge.

For now, scientists agree that the Internet and AI tools are not destroying our brains. But they urge caution. The rapid evolution of AI means we don’t fully understand how it might reshape memory in the long run. This makes it more important than ever to remain an active, critical thinker — not just a passive consumer of AI-generated knowledge.

The future of memory

The key is balance. Use technology when it helps, but don’t let it do all the work. Practice recalling facts without your phone. Navigate without GPS occasionally. Take fewer photos and savour moments in real-time.

Ultimately, our brains are resilient and adaptable. But as AI continues to evolve, we must decide how much control we want to give it over our minds. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist at University College London, warns that understanding AI’s impact on memory will be difficult given how fast the technology is evolving.

We’re only at the beginning of this journey. Whether AI will become a helpful companion or a dangerous crutch depends on how we use it. One thing is certain: technology will continue to change how we remember, think, and learn. The challenge is to embrace the best of both worlds — using technology without losing the unique power of human memory.

Because some things are too precious to leave to a search engine.

The writer is the Dean-Academic Affairs, at Garden City University, Bangalore and an adjunct faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore