In today's digital and smartphone era, there would hardly be any person who has not taken a screenshot of his phone screen to save any important information, recipe, payment receipt or a funny joke. Technology has made our lives so easy that now we do not feel any need to remember any important thing or note it down with pen and paper, because at the press of a button it gets captured forever in the gallery of our phone. But have you ever noticed how deeply and negatively this small habit of convenience is having a deep and negative impact on your brain and your memory? Recently, many major researches in the field of psychologists and neuroscience have revealed a very shocking thing which will surprise you. According to these research, people who constantly take help of screenshots for every small and big thing, their natural memory starts weakening very fast and they have to face a lot of trouble in remembering things in future. In this digital age, it is becoming a silent threat, understanding which in time and improving this habit has become very important for our mental health. What is Digital Amnesia and how are screenshots affecting our mental capacity? In the language of psychology, this modern disease is called 'Digital Amnesia' or 'Google Effect', which simply means that when the human brain comes to know that some information has been safely stored in an external digital device i.e. phone or computer, then our brain stops bothering to save that information within itself. The memory of our ancestors and elders was much sharper and more accurate than today's youth because they tried to remember every small address, phone number and important things in their mind. On the contrary, today's youth gives themselves mental comfort by taking screenshots for every small thing. There is a direct rule of the brain that the part you use less, it gradually starts becoming weak. When you repeatedly take screenshots, you send a message to the hippocampus and memory storage centers of your brain that there is no need to remember it anymore, as a result of which gradually our ability to remember i.e. recall power starts getting badly affected. Thousands of screenshots lying in the gallery and the increasing invisible burden of mental stress. If you open the gallery of your smartphone, you will find thousands of screenshots which you had saved with the hope of seeing them in the future, but after that you would hardly have seen them again. This digital garbage not only fills up the storage capacity of your phone but also creates an unnecessary mental stress and clutter within your mind. When the brain realizes that we have thousands of unheard and unseen information stored that we have to manage, it increases our cognitive load. Due to this when we need to remember any important fact or information in a real situation, our mind gets confused and we are not able to remember the right thing at that time. This habit of forgetting things again and again gradually reduces our confidence and makes us completely dependent on our smartphones, which can prove to be a huge mental crisis for the future. How to get rid of the habit of taking screenshots and make your memory strong again. Since smartphones have become an essential part of our lives, it may not be practically possible to stop taking screenshots completely in today's time, but we can definitely keep this habit of ours within a certain and balanced limits. Neuroscience experts suggest that whenever you see any important information, instead of taking a screenshot, make a habit of noting it in a diary with your own hands or try to repeat it in your own words. When you write any information with your hand or recreate it in your mind, the neurons of our brain become active and that information comes out of our short-term memory and gets saved in the permanent long-term memory. Additionally, clean your phone gallery once a week and delete unnecessary screenshots to keep your digital space clean and your mind free from unnecessary clutter. Remember that technology is meant to help us, not completely cripple our natural brains, so use your smartphone wisely and maintain your memory power.
