Uploaded July 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The ‘Google Effect’, the impact on our memory of being able to find information online has extended to include important personal information and mobile devices, a new study by Kaspersky Lab has found. The study reveals that the majority of connected consumers in the UK can’t recall critical phone numbers from memory, including those of their children (71%), children’s schools (87%), place of work (57%) and partner (49%). However, half (47%) could recall instantly their home phone numbers when aged 10 and 15.
Kaspersky Lab surveyed 6,000 consumers aged 16 and older in six European countries. The findings suggest that our inability to retain important information is due to the fact that we are handing over responsibility for remembering it to digital devices such as smartphones. Just over half (53%) of the youngest consumers surveyed (16 to 24 year-olds) say that their smartphone holds almost everything they need to know or recall.
We call this Digital Amnesia. #DigitalAmnesia
The ‘Google Effect’, the impact on our memory of being able to find information online has extended to include important personal information and mobile devices, a new study by Kaspersky Lab has found. The study reveals that the majority of connected consumers in the UK can’t recall critical phone numbers from memory, including those of their children (71%), children’s schools (87%), place of work (57%) and partner (49%). However, half (47%) could recall instantly their home phone numbers when aged 10 and 15.
Kaspersky Lab surveyed 6,000 consumers aged 16 and older in six European countries. The findings suggest that our inability to retain important information is due to the fact that we are handing over responsibility for remembering it to digital devices such as smartphones. Just over half (53%) of the youngest consumers surveyed (16 to 24 year-olds) say that their smartphone holds almost everything they need to know or recall.
We call this Digital Amnesia. #DigitalAmnesia
