The recent rise in technology has increased human reliance on the internet to access news, information and basic facts. Although it is very easy nowadays to clarify uncertainties with an instant search, there are more important advantages to remembering facts and thinking for oneself. In general, it is easy to use information on the internet to create an argument, or find out basic information, however, the importance of not becoming too reliant upon technology is an extremely relevant topic to today’s society.
One factor to consider is that the internet is not always available or reliable when finding out information. Today, the internet is widely available for the majority of people, however, there are geographical regions and groups of people who are unable to use the internet on such a regular basis. In rural areas, without a WiFi connection and available data usage, people must go without being able to search for unknown facts. For these people, there is an advantage to remembering facts, allowing them to teach and educate those younger than them without reliance on the internet. Furthermore, information on the internet is not always reliable, and a variety of websites may feed different information in answer to the same question. This suggests that different areas of the internet may include biases, and provide information to the user that is not entirely based in truth. This shows the advantages of remembering facts, as individuals can be assured that they are correct and therefore, they are not spreading unreliable information. On the other hand, humans are prone to error, whereas, machines tend to be consistent with the information that they provide; although we must remember that actual people are controlling most of the content found online.
Another benefit of remembering facts is the benefit to each human’s cognitive functionality. It has been shown that there are many advantages to human brains when they remember information, and are constantly using and testing their capability to remember it. It could be important for preventing neurological-diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, as challenging your brain often has significant advantages. Remembering information can help humans develop self-confidence as they are able to feel more educated and accomplished. Such feelings have vast improvements on mental health and neurological-functioning; this shows that there are advantages to helping humans, beyond the simplistic idea of remembering facts. However, as there is such easy access to the internet, is it an unnecessary task to retain information? This can also create stress on individuals who are unable to remember facts, or who have worse short-term memory, as they become concerned with feeling ignorant.
Additionally, humans remembering information helps to create a more educated and interesting society, where people are not reliant upon technology. Knowing about different topics can allow information to be shared through conversation and in-depth discussions can be held. If people did not remember facts, they could not be shared, and people would spend a greater amount of time focused on devices and less on human interaction. The spreading of information by humans can allow them to form their own opinions on topics, rather than those of Wikipedia. Individuals may have a passion in one subject, which enables them to enjoy exploring topics and creates well-educated individuals. The purpose of learning becomes redundant when people rely too heavily on the internet, which is a concerning trend, and this illustrates the danger of humans choosing not to remember facts.
Matilda, Deputy Head Girl
Photo Credit: Mike Agliolo / Photo Researchers / Universal Images Group
Rights Managed / For Education Use Only
