How has Google changed our brains?

Through 16 years of existence, Google has changed a lot, and the human brain has also changed to adapt to a world without the search engine.

The process of Google changes people's thinking

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, the search engines of these two mathematical geniuses had a strong advantage over competitors at the time: automatically ranking search results. based on the degree of relevance to the keyword entered by the user. Thanks to this strength, Google quickly rose to No. 1 in the world and so far overwhelms competitors like Yahoo or Bing. Over the years, Google has expanded into a powerful empire with digital products such as Maps, Android, Chrome, Gmail as well as non-web products such as robots, medicine, self-driving cars .

When Google was launched, two young men Larry Page and Sergey Brin probably did not think their website could change . the human brain.

But mentioning Google first is still a search. As a portal to the Internet of the majority of users, Google represents a huge database of people put on the web . Even the name of the company (driving the word "googol" , the phrase representing the number 10 ^ 100) also represents the huge level of knowledge resources Google brings.

But, when this search engine has become an important part of our lives, how has the human brain changed to adapt to an indispensable world, indispensable for Google? Whether the amount of massive information on the web affects the way people think.

That is the answer that Professor Gary Small of the Department of Neurology at the University of California (UCLA) has joined his wife, Gigi Vorgan, for the past 10 years. In the summer of 2006, when he and his wife wrote a book about how the Internet changes the human brain, Professor Small was surprised to discover that no one had ever studied how the brain reacts when we do it. search information on internet.

Professor Gary Small and his wife, Mrs. Gigi Vorgan.

"I was very curious," Professor Small said. He conducted a study that included 24 participants, including 12 who regularly used search engines and 12 who used little. Each person is allowed to perform magnetic resonance imaging while using Google. Professor Small's discovery later surprised him: while "Google" , their brains worked very hard.

This study was later published in the American Journal of Old Psychiatry in 1998 as "Your Brain on Google". According to Professor Small, when using the search engine, the brain region for making decision-making behavior, thinking complex and visual logic will be enhanced significantly. In addition, the brains of experienced users also have twice the level of activity compared to those who use Google less.

Professor Small's speculation with this phenomenon is that when we use more search engines, the brain will react more strongly to web search: "This model seems very similar. With what happens when you exercise your muscles, you are very tired at first, but when you improve your weight, you can lift heavier weights and use less energy. "

Using Google is no different from exercising sports for the brain.

Since that time, the number of studies on the effects of online search for people has increased significantly. Many studies show that people who have access to search engines (such as Google) often overestimate their intelligence, and that people who read documents online often scan more than read details.

A well-known study because scientists from prestigious universities like Columbia, Harvard and Wisconsin-Madison show that people who are exposed to the Internet are often unable to remember small information. Instead, they often remember the location of this information. This study concludes that the Internet has become our second brain: "The Internet has become a major form of memory / memory conversion for humans, where information is stored in a total way. matching our brain ".

Our brains are highly adaptable and are naturally designed to always look for new information . "That's why we don't like repetitive things , " Professor Small asserts. That is why the human brain reacts strongly to the infinite amount of information available on the Internet. It can be said that the site is a free buffet with countless knowledge dishes, and search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing are the ticket to join the party. The Internet brings all that the brain needs, and therefore almost no one can live without Google.

Part of your intelligence and memory is now located in Google's data centers.

And the fact that people are increasingly enjoying Google in a "blameless" way . In 1998, Google attracted only 9,800 searches per day. By 2014, this number was . 5.7 billion turns! Search engines are not only a human research tool when it comes to referencing information; they have become the main means for us to discover and access new information.

In order to reflect that change, studies of the influence of the Internet on people also need to change.

When Small did his first research in 2007, he had a hard time trying to find people who had never used search engines."That is also the reason why my research participants are quite old, because older people often absorb new technology later . " Until now, the professor claimed that finding a person who did not use Google or similar services would be nearly impossible.

For its part, Google has also sought to complement features that now no longer work well for the brain (using Google). In recent years, Larry Page's company has continuously promoted features to save location, save the time and save the human experience on services like Gmail, Google+, Maps . Part of memory human beings are now entrusted to the Internet.

But, sometimes we will need to move away from machines to regain emotional intelligence.

In the context of people unable to live without technology, Professor Small's studies have also been changed to a new topic: the effect of life lacks technology for the brain.

Last year, he conducted a study of a group of 6th graders. When he was forced to separate technological devices and join in the forest for five days, his social and emotional intelligence The children have increased significantly."The good news is that we can rehearse our brains to reactivate social skills. Nothing is lost forever , " said Professor Small.