Can technology affect the memory of children?

Children are great technology users and have grown up in a time when watching a screen is a normal, regular activity. This raises several concerns. A recent study by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health reveals that time spent in front of a screen can have a negative impact on children's sleep and that it is linked to a less healthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

In the UK, it was the first expert advice to help parents prevent the harmful use of smart phones and consoles. We also recommended that children turn off their screens one hour before bedtime.

Oxford University (covered by the Digital Journal) has done contrasting research suggesting that the use of digital devices does not usually harm children.

The use of screens by children has led to another interesting area of ​​study: memory. This was the subject of an investigation commissioned by Rajapack UK (a packaging company) and led by research professor Andrew Hoskins, Tony Ortega, clinical psychologist and Lorna Cordwell, therapist. The study has not been peer reviewed.

Researchers have found that the digital revolution is transforming how we remember and what we forget. The research also indicates that recording our memories (such as by camera or video) becomes more important than enjoying the event itself. However, our five senses remain the main triggers of emotional memories.

As societies increasingly embrace digitalization, memory and the way people remember have led to an important consideration: does the preservation of tangible memories still have value?

This question fits into the context of technology offering people unlimited storage possibilities. However, do we still need tactile objects such as gift boxes or just a nostalgic way to look back in time?

The researchers studied how we remember and the role that tangible memories play in our lives. Research shows that tactile memories establish a close connection with our past, allowing people to access our five senses and triggering living and living memories.

In addition, researchers found that tangible memories had a beneficial effect on intergenerational relationships. "It's almost like giving a tradition to the younger generation," says Dr. Tony Ortega.

However, we are also witnessing changes, especially with the younger generation. It seems that technology has redesigned memory, as digital technology opens up more possibilities for users to store and access memories and access them immediately. According to Andrew Hoskins, "both traps and frees active human beings who remember and forget".

However, researchers have found that technology plays a crucial role in the process of creating memories. As a result, users no longer depend only on media for their memory, but that they now depend on it.

Here, Hoskins notes, "Recording has become more urgent than seeing what is being recorded." Smartphone technology has created an impetus to record and filter all aspects of our everyday lives : "The present is literally filtered as the default way of seeing the world … the unregistered areas of our lives are shrinking rapidly. "

Hoskins develops these themes in his book "Studies of Digital Memory: Media in Transition." The book focuses on the paradox of media, networks and digital archives, helping us to reinvent and revitalize individual, social and cultural memory, but also to envelop memory and subject it to new forms of control.

This shift in perception and memory emphasizes that tactile and tangible memories must still play a role in the way people remember what is important to them. It's always a good idea to keep this box of memory.