Has technology negatively affected mental agility?

Not so far as I'm concerned I'm as mentally agile as I've always been however after discovering the internet for myself the first time my deviancy has increased exponentially and continues too!
 
Gepetto said:
Just as a matter of interest, to which "valuable skills" are you referring?
Click to expand...
Basically any skill that was essential before technology.

Things like the OP said, remembering phone numbers, mental maths, manual filing, legible handwriting, the manual methods of work and even survival.

My grandad taught me how to set traps and fish and forage for mushrooms for instance, skills that we let go of way way way too easily because we're over reliant on modern methods.

I refuse to be one of those people that has some sort of breakdown because they've forgotten how things were before an invention.
 
pitchfork said:
I refuse to be one of those people that has some sort of breakdown because they've forgotten how things were before an invention.
Click to expand...

So what you're saying is, you're prepared for the Zombie apocalypse and all us techno-freaks are going to die. :)

Cosimo said:
You forget all those numbers but you remember all the passwords.
Click to expand...

Only because I had to devise a "system" for making passwords. I still forget them all the time, must have to remember 50+ of the sods. Thankfully, there's always "I forgot my password". ;)
 
pitchfork said:
mental maths, manual filing, legible handwriting, the manual methods of work and even survival..
Click to expand...

Pretty sure I have these all sorted, and I use technology all day.

Only disadvantage is not remembering numbers.

Good job I have those jotted down in a contact book. Technology, eh.
 
I think the biggest thing technology has effected is self reflection and just thinking about things, before arbitrary tasks such as waiting for a bus etc involved waiting and being forced to do those things but now everyone just plays on their phone.
 
King85 said:
I think the biggest thing technology has effected is self reflection and just thinking about things, before arbitrary tasks such as waiting for a bus etc involved waiting and being forced to do those things but now everyone just plays on their phone.
Click to expand...

Hardly anyone talks to each other on the train anymore. Everyone is either buried in their smartphone or listening to music. The odd person is actually reading a PAPER BOOK!

I definitely think I'm nowhere near as patient as I once was. My attention span has definitely shortened, too. :p If my work PC locks up for a few seconds I start getting annoyed. We've become too used to getting things instantly I think.
 
Narj said:
So what you're saying is, you're prepared for the Zombie apocalypse and all us techno-freaks are going to die. :)
Click to expand...
Actually, I too could die but if you want to join me I'll be hiding in the arkells brewery, waiting it out.

But if we had to rebuild? I dare say I'd come in useful.

Outline said:
Pretty sure I have these all sorted, and I use technology all day.

Only disadvantage is not remembering numbers.

Good job I have those jotted down in a contact book. Technology, eh.
Click to expand...
You're away from your desk and thus contacts book, left your phone in the car parked 10 minutes down the road.

You have to go back to the car, I can just find a landline and make a call.

I get looked at like a wierdo for trying to chat to people on the train.
 
Gepetto said:
I think it's interesting that you've used a * instead of an X (for a multiplication sign).

I know that my PC calculator uses the * symbol, but I have no idea why, and, more importantly, have never bothered to ask anyone, which is probably a sign of becoming lazy. :(
Click to expand...

I find it quite funny you find it interesting, don't know why, its just a side effect of working with php I guess :)
 
4eqMJJ2.gif
 
pitchfork said:
Basically any skill that was essential before technology.

Things like the OP said, remembering phone numbers, mental maths, manual filing, legible handwriting, the manual methods of work and even survival.
Click to expand...

Although I take your point, and personally regard those skills as a given, I'm not sure any of those skills are necessarily forgotten, or being eroded. Technology may render them less useful, but go back 50-60 years, and remembering phone numbers was only just becoming a needed skill. Go back 100 years, and the same could be said for handwriting. In general, the population of the UK in particular has not needed survival skills for probably a hundred years, whilst mental maths is primarily limited to simple equations, as in the example given earlier.

I honestly don't believe that any more mental agility is required by mental maths, memory use, or manual work, than is required to operate the myriad of different controls on a PS3/Eggbox 360 controller. Our lad can quite happily multitask on a PS3 with a familiarity and skill that I will never master, but, no, he wouldn't be able to give me an instant answer to 15% of 80.

Whilst both distinct skillsets might be different, they are still learned, and I don't believe the technology is the problem. I would say that a grasp of computers, The Internet, Twitter, Facebook is just as essential today, as remembering phone numbers was in the 50's to 80's.

However, go live in a village in Africa, and different skills become essential. So, in answer to the OP, no, technology has not affected mental agility, merely the skillsets that are learned.
 
dacads said:
There's no doubt it will end in a bad way
Click to expand...

I think "There's no doubt" is phrasing it rather strongly. I doubt it, for a start. Technology is giving us far greater scope for communication. Whilst I see lots of people (teens mainly) absorbed in texting etc instead of verbal communication, I also see lots of people using tech to organise physical meet ups and Skype-chatting to far flung relatives. Hell, I even met my fiancee online. Compared to the years I wasted trolling round bars and clubs when I was younger, I would suggest that the online process was hugely more efficient and effective. Technology definitely did me a favour there. :D
 
I was going to start a thread along the same lines after an incident today.
I went to Crewe Crematorium today and my Brother In law and Sister In Law made the journey from Fleet but were late because she was doing the navigating with a road atlas :eek:
I took his phone off him (S3), opened up Navigate and put the postcode in and told him he has a 'Tom Tom'.
He was none the wiser because he didn't know what a Tom Tom referred to :D
 
I don't think it's a matter of not remembering the telephone numbers, it's just we don't need to. Doesn't mean we are unable to if we wanted to. I have to remember a heck of a lot of figures in my job. It's about working smarter, technology is an aid not a crutch.
 
bloodline76 said:
I don't think it's a matter of not remembering the telephone numbers, it's just we don't need to. Doesn't mean we are unable to if we wanted to. I have to remember a heck of a lot of figures in my job. It's about working smarter, technology is an aid not a crutch.
Click to expand...

I can see that memory is becoming worse and people move with technology as remembering isn't required.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom