How technology is turning you into Dory | Liam Stevens | TEDxBrentwoodCollegeSchool

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

We all have a little bit of Dory in us. We forget things, and sometimes we get distracted. But that inner Dory has become increasingly obvious since the advent of digital technology. Technology changes people. That’s pretty much common consensus. Thanks to a good book and some research, Liam discovered just how deeply this effect runs. In his talk, he aims to show you two ways technology has made you fishier, and what it means for you and the world.

This is Dory.

Everybody knows Dory.

She's everybody's favorite,
cute, blue fish from "Finding Nemo."

Everybody likes Dory.

I think the reason everybody likes Dory
is because she's relatable.

We're all a lot like Dory
in two pretty big ways:

Just like Dory, we all have
adorably short attention spans.

It's true.

In 2000, the average human
attention span was 12 seconds.

in 2015, it had dropped to 8.25 seconds,
eight and a quarter seconds.

For a little bit of context,

the average attention span
of a goldfish is 9 seconds.

Just like Dory, we're not
very good at concentrating.

And just like Dory, we all suffer
from a touch of memory loss.

Hate to break it to you; just like Dory--

Dory's probably one of her biggest traits
is her short-term memory loss.

Yours isn't quite as bad,
but it's definitely there.

The thing is we weren't
always this much like Dory.

We used to be a lot more
like Marlin, Nemo's dad.

We could actually concentrate
and remember things.

But in the last 20, 30 years, or so
we started to become a lot more Doryaque.

There's a reason for that,

and it has to do with the explosion
of digital technology

and this concept called neuro-plasticity.

Sound's complicated, but it's not.

It's just the idea
your brain is adaptable,

it can change and reorganize itself.

Because your brain is made up of
around 21 billion brain cells or neurons,

and they make all sorts
of connections between each other.

That's how you think.

Every time you experience something,

those connections change a little bit

and that's what's learned.

Let's say I'm walking down the street
and I run into somebody walking their dog.

It's a cute, cuddly, little thing,
and I stop to pat it.

Then my brain reinforces the connection,

"Oh! Dogs are cute, and they're nice.
I don't have to be scared of dogs."

But if I'm walking down the street,
I walk pass somebody's house,

and there's this rottweiler out
in the front yard, barking, growling,

it's lunging at me, and I'm freaked out.

Then my brain makes the connection,
"You know what? Dogs are scary.

I need to be a little careful
around dogs from now on."

That's the idea of neuro-plasticity.

It's that your brain can change
depending on the experiences you have.

But what that means is every time
you interact with a piece of technology,

whether it's your phone,
computer, whatever,

your brain changes a little bit.

What digital technology does
is it promotes multi-tasking.

It encourages you to multi-task,
to refocus your attention between things,

like you're sitting down
at your desk writing something,

and then you check your phone,
then you go back to writing,

then you reply to an email,
and then you go back to writing.

You're getting a lot more practice
shifting you attention

than you would have 20 or 30 years ago

before digital technology
became such big thing.

Your brain is like a muscle, it changes,

and the more you use it,
the better it gets, the stronger it gets,

and the less you use it,
the weaker it gets.

So all this practice
of reshifting your attention

means that you have gotten
really good at multi-tasking,

but at the expense
of your ability to concentrate.

The same thing happens
to your memory, too

- has happened, is happening -

if you don't use it, you lose it.

Humans have this process
called transactive memory

And again, it sounds fancy.
It's pretty simple.

It's just the idea
that if I don't know something

I can ask somebody
who does know that thing,

and they'll be able to tell me.

I don't know very much
about the TV show "Doctor Who,"

but my friend Ben does.

So if I need to know
this Doctor Who factoid or tidbit,

I can ask Ben and the odds are
he'll be able to tell me about it.

And visa versa: if Ben needs
to know something that I know,

he can ask me and I can tell him.

That's the idea behind transactive memory:

that if everybody in a social group,
no matter how big that social group is,

whether it's me and Ben,

or me and my family,
or me and all of my friends,

if everybody in that group
is responsible for remembering

only a part of the information,

then everybody in the group
has access to all of the information,

which is a lot more than any of them
could remember by themselves.

That's for all you visual learners
in case you wanted to read it.

Traditionally, humans used each other
as transactive memory partners

who would rely on each other
to remember things.

But since digital memory
has become so readily available,

we started to rely
on computers on the Internet

as transactive memory partners,
which is kind of cool.

But the thing is computers are better
at remembering than humans:

(a) they don't forget things,

(& b) they know almost everything
thanks to the Internet.

That means every time you use a computer
as a transactive memory partner,

it's like you're interacting
with this super person,

somebody who's so, so, so,
so, so good at remembering

you can't even comprehend it.

That's a different experience

than the one you would've had
20, 30 years ago

when you were mostly having transactive
memory processes with other people.

It's a different experience

which means your brain
reacts to it differently

and has changed because of that.

Here's how it's changed
- and a study was actually done on this -

and what they found

is that if you use a computer
as a transactive memory partner,

you are actually a little bit worst
at remembering that information

which makes sense; that's what
transactive memory partners do.

Let's say I'm given
a list of facts to read,

and I'm asked to remember
as many of them as possible.

If I copy that list of facts
into a computer first,

I will remember less of them

because by copying them
into the computer,

I'm establishing the computer
as a transactive memory partner.

So I subconsciously go,

"Oh, hey! it's remembering it
for me; I don't need to,"

and then I forget some of them.

The thing is that will happen,

whether or not I'm trying
to remember the facts.

The subconscious drive
for me to rely on that computer

to remember part of the information for me

is so strong that it's overpowering
my conscious effort to remember.

Every time a computer is involved
in a transactive memory process with you,

it induces a lit bit
of memory loss on that subject.

That sounds kind of scary.

It's like, "Ah! I don't want
to be like Dory anymore.

I thought this will be
a cute presentation."

Don't worry; all I can say is this:

as long as we as humans
keep using technology,

our brains will keep changing,
keep adapting to it.

That's not good or bad, it just is.

It's a fact of our lives at this moment.

But I don't think it's a fact
you should ignore

Because if you ignore it,
but you continue to use tech,

you won't have any say in
how it may or may not change you.

You'll just be going along for the ride
whether you like it or not.

The whole reason
I've been telling you this,

sharing this information with you,

telling you how and why
technology can influence you

is so that you can accept it
and do something about it.

Because once you accept that knowledge,

you can start to ask yourself questions,

say things to yourself,
like "You know what self?

I'll re-train myself to concentrate"

-- because you can do that.

If not practicing your concentration
has made you worst at it,

then if you practice it,
you'll get better.

Or maybe you'll say to yourself,

"You know what self? I'll embrace
that short attention span

and become this multi-tasking machine."

That's a perfectly valid option.

But most importantly, you've chosen
which path you wanted to pursue.

Let's be honest here:

we're all like Dory
and technology has made us so.

You are all like Dory.

And what that means

is you probably haven't been able
to pay attention to most of my talk.

Just do this one thing for me:

accept the knowledge I've given you.

Don't panic when you think about it,
just accept it, but then use it.

Decide on your course of action.

Take a deep breath and follow it.

Even if the going gets tough,
or weird, or scary,

don't panic and just keep swimming.

Thank you.

(Applause)