How to improve your memory & critical thinking capacity?
In the last few weeks, I have written about the brain evolution and the challenges it is facing in the 21st Century digital world. Consequently, we have covered two (2) out of the four (4) brain challenges - from information overload to dopamine overdose
This week, I am going to elaborate on the third brain challenge:
Over-reliance on technology that is withering away our memories and our critical thinking capacity.
Withering Memory
When I first moved to Canada in 2006, smartphones were just a few years away from domination. By the time I graduated, the iPhone 4S was the hottest sensation. I didn’t have a smartphone for myself till 2012. This was not because I was cautious of becoming over-reliant on technology but because my circumstances shaped me to become very economical with my limited budget. What I did not realize was that by not using digital apps to perform menial cognitive tasks such as using Google Maps on a smartphone to help me navigate my way around Toronto, I was developing my cognitive skills and memory to become sharper and stronger.
The more we outsource certain tasks to a digital device the more we increase the chances of lowering our cognitive powers. Our brain is not a vessel that will become full and lose it’s capacity to store more. Our brain is a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it gets and the more it can store.
Here is some brain science behind this. Our memory pathways become stronger the more we recall a particular route, a phone number, a fact or a story. Forcing information recall is a way to exercise the memory. It allows the information to shift from the short-term memory part of the brain to the long-term memory part of the brain. When repetition of behavior, or skills, or thoughts does not happen, it causes what neurologists call neural shearing - a process that causes the neural pathways to wither away causing a loss of skill.
With easy access to the internet, harddrives and cloud storage now, human behavior is shifting towards finding the information on the internet instead of exercising their brain cells. As a result, we are diminishing our superpowers of remembering and recalling, because, of course, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
You may argue that outsourcing some menial tasks to a digital device makes space for the brain to perform more important and intellectual tasks. However, in my opinion, we should first prioritize our tasks and realize what tasks the brain will perform versus what tasks technology will perform. Here are a few examples that I have found useful for training my memory.
Remembering Names - During a conversation, with people I have just met, I would try using their names a few times (as long as I am not overusing it to make them feel weird). Each time I verbally say the name, I strengthen the neurons in my brain that are responsible for remembering the name. Later, I make sure to write down something related to this person to further reinforce the memory. For instance: If I met the person at a networking event, I would make sure to send him or her a quick thank you email to perform the reinforcement. Plus, I always gain some brownie points for following up and advance my networking skills as a byproduct. Months or years later when I come across this person face-to-face or receive a surprise email from him or her, I am very certain to remember them and the context of our previous meeting. This way, I balance the act of leveraging both, my brains and technology (my email), as a way to remember people and the context.
Remembering Dates & Events - I am certainly proud of having an autobiographical memory and it certainly surprises a lot of people who know me. Since an early age, unknowingly, I was using certain methods to remember dates and events. I am going to age myself here, but one simple method was to repeatedly look at the printed photographs from the event and spend an extra few seconds noticing the dates that were printed at the bottom right corner of the photograph. Those extra few seconds of attention on the date paid dividends in the future to recall past events and dates. Now, with Google Photos, this has become even easier. The method remains the same though. I have to admit that when I realized that others notice this skill of mine, I became more conscious and made a little bit of an extra effort to remember dates and events.
New routes - I surely leverage Google Maps the first time I am driving to a new place. However, I make it a point to use my memory to drive back home. Every other time I drive to this place, I avoid using any kind of digital assistance to ensure I rely on my brain to help me remember the routes. Do I make mistakes? Absolutely. But those are always great learning opportunities.
Coaching Tips - First step towards a better memory
Make a list of “things I want my brain to remember”. This could be names of places, dates of certain important events or routes within your city.
Try one of the methods I shared above to remember & recall. Report back on your experience in the comments section below.
Diminishing Thinking & Problem-Solving
Along with declining memory, over-reliance on our digital tools is also robbing us of the opportunity to “think on our feet”. Don’t know how to fix the broken pipe in your kitchen? No problem, Bob’s plumbing YouTube channel to the rescue. Not sure how you feel about a trending issue? Again, with a simple search you will find dozens of articles on the issue to help you formulate an opinion.
Are we accelerating or automating the processes for thinking and problem solving? Some might argue that the YouTube video or the Google search article is accelerating the processes for thinking and problem solving. And there are benefits to that surely. However, in doing so, we are also automating our abilities to think and problem-solve on our own.
When it comes to forming our own opinions about a particular matter, most of the time, we choose reliable sources of information based on our previous experiences to form our opinion. As a result, we have reduced our ability to reflect, disengaged our critical thinking muscles and fixated our perspectives.
In order to solve complex problems and become successful in any field, we must develop our abilities to reflect and to think critically about the problem from different perspectives. After all, Albert Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
So, how to reduce our habit of relying on technology to think, reflect & problem-solve?
There are numerous problem solving techniques that you can learn and apply from 5-Whys to 6 Thinking Hats to Design Thinking. But the first step of every problem solving method starts with “thinking” about the problem and clearly defining it. And where does “thinking” take place? In the brain. Hence, in my opinion, learning about the brain is the prerequisite to solve any problem. Once you understand how the brain works, you can work your brain.