A long time ago, there was a Native American tribe which was nearly dead, and had but one remaining member left in the world. This member was able to recite all sorts of old stories, including songs which were as long as the Iliad or the Odyssey. The really crazy part was, he could do all of this through nothing more than his own memory. Inside his head was the stored wisdom of an entire civilization which had fallen, for reasons which may forever be lost to history. But a funny thing happened when this tribesman was taught how to read and write by a meddling white man- he lost the ability to recite the long poetry and stories from his memory.

It has been suggested that there is something about being able to record the contents of one’s mind which saps a person’s memory retention. Whether this is psychosomatic or whether it has a genuine physical element to it is up to researchers to ultimately decide. But what that means for most of us is that our dependence on technology could actually be hurting our minds. COnsider the effect that are experienced when a person goes from having their to do list in their minds (or on a nice, old fashioned piece of paper) to storing their entire life inside their smart phone.

There are actually a reasonable number of individuals who could not function without the planning features which are present in their smart phones. While these individuals would seem not to be the majority as of yet, their presence is unnerving. After all, what happens when technology fails us, and we have to go back to resorting to the means our ancestors had to apply? In times of great need, we often have to do things we have never done before, with a steep learning curve. What happens to our society if our ability to organize has been lost to the phones?