memory v technology?

reflections on priorities

What’s the appropriate balance between technological assistance and falling back on our memories for our daily lives?

Perhaps tech’s a generational preference. In response to my column day before yesterday about President Trump’s decision to stop minting pennies, I got a response yesterday from an annual subscriber and former colleague who put the question to the “ChatGPT” test to get some feedback. I would not have thought to do that in ten billion years. He is about a generation younger than me, finishing up a terrific doctorate after a successful Army career. The Chat GPT response also educated me on trade offs but suggesting artificial intelligence to me is pretty close to speaking in Sumerian. I love the feedback, by the way.

Perhaps it’s a Luddite thing where people who have always done something by reasoning through a question are too lazy or too set in our (confession time) ways to default to other behavior. In my own case, it’s almost invariably the impatience to learn proper use of some new gizmo so, rather than spending time, I defer to whatever comfortable, repeated non-tech approaches worked previously. Of course I use newer technology like a cellphone, my beloved digital camera, and a computer but I doubt I use any of them as effectively as someone who took the time to embrace their full capabilities via a systematic study (guilty as charged but mindful of my failings).

I think the question, however, is worth raising in our more senior years. How do we balance that ease even the lowest forms of tech provide in our daily lives with the slower exercising of the mind vital to retaining our independence, autonomy, and sense of self preservation?

Supply and demand tells us that technology likely will develop in conjunction with the increase in people who could use that supply. Indeed, we see catalogs, websites, and annoying adverts of varying relevance advocating some new product that will help us lose weight (yes, weight loss drugs strike me as a technology like GPS) or improve our balance as we accrue years. In a free market society, that prevalence of an innovator offering a product to fill a niche seems indicative of the strength of laissez-faire economics—and a method by which we keep cash flowing through the economy.

But are we shortchanging ourselves at the same time? A reposted piece in today’s New York Times on steps individuals can take to protect their memory brings all of this to mind.

The article with a reminder that memories often seem to slow, if not in decline, but that is not an absolute. My husband and I independently came to the same analogy of our memories being file cabinets which sometimes are just too jammed full to add extra stuff to recall so you have to search through the cabinet a bit longer to find what you’re seeking as well as the find new file folders when needed. Sometimes, it’s just not there, despite your best efforts to figure out the question. That is not the end of the world but happens.

The professional (yes, I am still a believer that science provides us with knowledge through rigorous study that helps explain things) cited disputes that assumption, offering that, like so many things, there is no inevitability to decline for many people. He provides an alternate path to help create a different outcome. This popular science certainly does not guarantee I will be able to recall my phone number in 1966 for the rest of the my but this articles suggest opportunites to shape an environment that can help.

Dr. Richard Restak of George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health recommends “bolstering memory skills…to ward off later memory issues”. He begins with the oft-cited, obvious steps that we pay attention (easier said than done in our world of bombardment by sight, sound, smell, and touch) and read more novels. I had not realized that some reading is better for memory preservation, according to research, though I am guess engages the reader more deeply with characters than non-fiction. Since I am only within the past couple of months reading fiction for the first time in half a century, this one got my attention.

Restak also encourages us to engage in interactive games such as chess or bridge which require forward and backward thinking as one plays. An exquisite bridge player must have some idea which cards already appeared in prior tricks so that accrued skill becomes stronger for success. I am not sure that PacMan or solitaire on the phone qualify but perhaps they work as well; the article mentioned bridge and chess.

But what I most noted about his recommendations are both the dynamic nature of best steps and the preference for exercising on our own minds rather than exploiting an admittedly sexier and often simple technological fix. The trade offs between these format spurred today’s column.

Exploiting directions (not traffic updates) on GPS rather than physical maps is easy but sets up diminished ability for spatial understanding later on. Expecting a voice to tell you where to turn left as you drive in an unfamiliar city makes complete sense if you don’t want to stop to look at a map (for those of you who don’t recall, it’s this paper thing with multi-colored lines linking the world into a single graphic of a specific town. The map of London has many, many more streets and locations than Sunset Beach on the west side of O’ahu but both require some mental orientation to operate a car. I realize some of you literally have never opened a hard copy map, depriving yourself of a great sense of satisfaction when you find a location, by the way).

When is the last time you really thought about the volume of telephone numbers you probably memorized as a kid but never call up—and perhaps cannot—today? I am guilty of adding every phone number and email address to my cellphone for a single repository; I admit it. I recall my husband’s, my brother’s, and my kids’ numbers by heart; everything else is in the phone. Ask me the last landline (I think we surrendered that a decade and half ago) number to fill out a security form and I am dead meat on the street. With the advent of cloud technology that pretty much assures even losing a phone isn’t that big a deal, this is all “whew” territory even if annoying to collect the data off the cloud.

But Restak reminds us that the process of recalling numbers on a regular basis has its role in retaining a strong memory through the vicissitudes of aging. The brain, as I understand it, thrives on neurological connections which memory stimulates. Remembering the pharmacy number without having to look it up won’t likely save you from forgetting what’s on your grocery list but it can prompt us to rely less on something that simply provides us an instantaneous answer without exercising our brains might not be optimal if retaining memory is a priority. Grocery lists, by memory, are another small step Restak suggests.

An even lower tech recommendation is to write things with a pen (I far prefer fountain pens even though anyone and everyone will tell you my handwriting truly is incomprehensible, no matter how hard I try) and paper because that physical muscle motion seemingly helps cultivate a stronger memory. Several years after the introduction of laptops and tablets (and perhaps some incredibly skilled cellphone typists), studies began pushing back on this technology in learning environments, citing evidence that the knowledge retention cultivated by taking handwritten notes is higher. Tech advocates surely dispute this, of course, but this presents an interesting choice.

In the end, I am not hostile to technology; really. But, its employment may satisfy different goals—especially time exploitation—that using the brain cannot match. That doesn’t mean the time exploitation piece will match the memory development question I mentioned in some detail.

It depends what problem one is addressing when one uses the technology or doesn’t do so.

We have a tendency to conflate objectives as if they were one and the same. Memory protection is to assure one is keeping brain cells thriving while technology in the form of a phone, a tablet, or any thing else is often, although not exclusively, a convenience. I would call the former an objective while the technology is a means to an end or objective. I am sure several fo you might challenge me on this but this is one distinction I am not sure we appreciate often enough.

And therein lies the real message today which is about actions, consequences, and priorities. I am not implying technology is evil as it most definitely is not, making for such improvements in our lives just over the past thirty years alone. Technology, like anything else, incentivizes different behaviors which may at times conflict with other goals. There is nothing profoundly new about this observation, of course, but I find it bears remembering as I see my own, much less that of anyone else, life change with the joy of additional years.

It’s a matter of which priority is first for me. Keeping my memory strong (for many reasons) is hard to top but you may have completely different preferences. Where do these things register on your preferences? What steps, if any, do you tae to coddle your memory? I welcome any and all thoughts on this question. It’s a biggie in a society replete with a population often determined to retain independence and our technology.

I appreciate your time this morning—or any day. Please feel free to circulate to others if you find them valuable. Definitely give me feedback as well. I am so thankful for the subscribers who contribute to this work as you provide me options to expand my reading.

It’s beautiful but chilly this morning. We got the predicted amount of about 6 inches of snow, though the roads are still icy.

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Be well and be safe. FIN

Imed Bouchrika, “Digital Notes vs Handwritten Notes in 2025: Benefits of Taking Notes by Hand”, Research.com., 8 January 2025, retrieved at https://research.com/education/digital-notes-vs-paper-notes

Hope Reese, “A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory”, NewYorkTimes.com, 22 June 2023, retrieved on 12 February 2025 at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/well/mind/memory-loss-prevention.html

StudyWorkGrow, “Digital vs Handwritten Notes: Which is Better?”, StudyWorkGrow.com, 4 September 2024, retrieved at https://studyworkgrow.com/digital-vs-handwritten-notes-which-is-better-for-learning/