I couldn't Remember How Much Google Helps Me Remember Until I Googled It

Before Google, we all had to use our brains. Sometimes it was quite painful. Remember trying to remember the name of an actor in a movie you liked or the short stop for your favorite baseball team in 1973? We all racked our brains for hours, pacing around the house, calling friends, looking up information in reference books until, in a moment of miraculous relief, we danced up and down (at least I did) and celebrated finding the answer.

The internet changed all that but especially Google. Ergo, the phrase "I'm not sure. Let me Google it." The question to be raised is whether having the ability to "Google it" is ultimately going to have an effect on our brains. I have heard that if we remain active and use our brains more in our golden years, we are less likely to suffer from dementia but what about if you are 14 or 24 or 44?

A study just published in Science magazine by psychologist Betsy Sparrow and her team at Columbia University looked at just this phenomenon. The good news is that their findings showed that our brains are not atrophying into jelly but it did find that we are adapting to the ability to use our brains to look for information in different places. It we do not expect the information to become readily available, our brains make a greater effort to remember. If we believe that the information can be easily found on the web, our brains will help us know where it is "filed". Sparrow cites as an example that she enjoys watching baseball but is not a stats "freak" like her husband so if she wants to remember how many home runs their left fielder has, her brain knows that she can go to her husband for that information and therefore, it is not important for her to store that fact in her brain.

Interesting stuff but I think a follow up study in five or 10 years might deliver very different results. Stay tuned.

Where Is Your Teen Working? Probably Nowhere.

The Wall Street Journal reported that only 24% of teens 16-19 had summer jobs last year. That's the lowest rate since the government has been keeping this stat. In 2001, 42% of teens in that age group had summer jobs. There has been a lot of talk about flash mobs of teens gathering here and there. Part of the reason is that these teens have nothing to do. Not only are they not gaining the invaluable experience and pride of earning a paycheck, they are not helping to fuel the economy. Many of these jobs are either not there anymore or are being filled by seniors who are deemed more reliable and can continue on after school starts if the employer wants them to. I have said for a number of years now that our children's generation will be the first in our country's existence that does not surpass their parents in earning power and general living standards. With statistics like those above, the outlook is even more glum.