Are mobiles making our brains lazy?
By Bizziebod
@Bizziebod (3497)
May 7, 2007 4:40am CST
There was a time not so long ago when I knew everyone's phone number off by heart, but since we've been using mobiles and memorised home phones I haven't a clue what anyones number is anymore unless they've had the same number for years! Castleghost mentioned that if they forgot their mobile then they wouldn't know any numbers! I guess it's the same if you lose your mobile would you lose everyone's number or do you back them up every so often? So is the mobile making our brains more lazy?
8 people like this
34 responses
@Darkwing (21583)
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7 May 07
No way would I remember anybody's mobile number off by heart. The numbers are too long to remember them all. I can still remember landline numbers, so I doubt it's the fault of the mobile phone that we can't remember the numbers. I guess the best way to avoid the problem of losing your phone, is to record the numbers in a little notebook and carry it in your bag, as you would landline numbers and addresses.
Blessed Be.
@Bizziebod (3497)
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21 May 07
Yeas it's the best way to write everything down I guess! Thanks for your response and Brightest Blessings!
@howhigh (757)
• Canada
7 May 07
Hey if you aren't using your brain its your fault! I need my mobile for numbers but only because it has allowed me to forget these useless things and use more brain power on other more useful things. Mobiles make our brains efficient because we can use a phone to track number strings.. and our brains for bigger problems.
Technology can make people lazy but it can also make you life more efficient.. so either way you have more time and if you have a problem with it you sound like a factory worker who's job just gout outsourced.. now you can do something better with your time!
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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7 May 07
Oh dear how wrong can you be? No actually I run my own business and use high tech technology everyday, which is infact making our brains lazier, even the calculator was invented to do the jobs our brains should be doing! Here's a thought, stop judging people by your own standards? Thanks for your response.
1 person likes this
@howhigh (757)
• Canada
7 May 07
Technology is a means to an end not an end itself. You may have to think less because of technology and now that your used to it you depend on technology but thats a good thing.
It seems that after people still spent time trying to figure wired telecoms they moved onto wireless ones. And i think that proves my point. Technology does make you lazy the idle time it creates does.. if you have nothing better to do with your time than crunch numbers then I guess my argument is flawed.
Can you really extend your argument beyond your own laziness and apply it to humanity? I don't think I have high standards if I say that novel technology gives me time to do more with my life because it makes tedious processes quicker. In the past people remembered telephone numbers and now we have cell phones to do it for us.. sure maybe you don't memorize phone numbers any more.. but that is a means to an end not an end in itself.
Maybe the first piece of technology made man lazy but the 2nd didn't make him lazier.
1 person likes this
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
3 Jun 07
Not only moblies , advance technology are making people turn very lazy indeed yea ... this is not the way to live for long time yea
1 person likes this
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
5 Jun 07
I know what you are talking about! I used to be forced to memorize someone's number and now I can just hilight it and dial! Of course, my advancing age isn't helping any either! I'm not sure if we even did away with mobiles if I could memorize phone numbers anymore! I still haven't learned my son's mobile number and he has had it a year!
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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5 Jun 07
Same here with my daughters and she's had it alot longer than a year lol Thanks for your response!
@katkat3 (425)
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25 May 07
Yes definately... I lost my phone new years eve just gone - nightmare- and I never wrote down all the numbers on my phone, I've got a few of them back, but there's no way I'll ever get some of them back again! I only know 3 numbers - my work, my old mobile number and my mums home phone. I just got another new phone and I don't even know that! :0)
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
Sorry to hear about you losing your mobile! Hope the numbers you lost wasn't that important! I've now decided to use a spreadsheet to download my numbers too, that way I can keep it updated and can email it to and from work so I have an up to date copy there too! Thanks for responding!
@kevsgirlalways (5883)
• Malaysia
12 May 07
haha maybe in a way it is making us lazy? when i first moved to my new house, i couldn't even remember what my house phone number is. i have it saved in my mobile phone's phonebook and when ppl ask for my house phone no, i'd have to look it up in my mobile. everyone was like "what? you don't know what your house number is?" lol. i've never backed up my phonebook before though..yikes! .
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
I hope you remember to back up your phone! I have a friend who phones his mom from his bedroom to ask for a cuppa - now that's laziness for you lol! Thanks for your response!
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
8 May 07
When I was a kid, my cousins' phone numbers were the same for years. I can still call my aunts and uncles at those numbers.
Now, at least one friend or cousin changes their number each month. It's a bit much to keep track of.
If I lose my phone, it's okay, because most of the numbers are also in my husband's phone. As I write this, I realize that I don't have my clients' numbers backed up, and I only have a few of those memorized.
1 person likes this
@mimpi1911 (25464)
• India
8 May 07
i agree. we are getting increasing dependent on mobiles and palm tops and stuff like that. with brand new mobiles coming up each day, we are being facilitated with new options and unbelievable storage capacities. our storage capacities (of our brains), on the other hand, if not decreasing but definitely going ashtray. i know of ppl who donot remember his office phone numbers, courtesy: their mobiles. of late, i have started to memorise the nos. and guess what, my brain is getting sharper day by day.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
Oh it's definately true if you 'train' your brain again it soon becomes sharper! Thanks for responding!
@smartbrain69 (2790)
• Canada
8 May 07
I don't know whether they are making us lazy or not, but truly they are making our life easier and without mobile it is real hard to survive.
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
Not quite sure that it's hard to survive without a mobile, but I agree it definately makes our lives easier! Thanks for responding!
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
8 May 07
You and I were thinking along the same lines yesterday. I posted a discussion about "if you are given 26 do you need more or less" and was talking about the lazy word abbreviations we have now. I totally agree with you about the phone numbers. Just as recently as yesterday I was on a very important phone call and was asked for the number of the person that I was discussing. It was most embarrassing to say, "Well, that number is in my phone memory and I don't know how to get to it while I am on the phone. Can I please hang up, look it up, and call you back?". ~Donna
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
It's quite bad when that happens, especially if the number you are trying to find is a close relative! Thanks for responding!
@theone3nu (598)
• India
8 May 07
oh my, i had never considered this but it is true we do lose the ability to remember numbers like we used to. I think its the same with many of the things that we are sold in order to make life more convinient, they stop us using our mind
blessed be
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
It's silly isn't it? I can't even remember my own mobile number half the time! Brightest Blessings!
@tinamwhite (3252)
• United States
9 May 07
I must admit that I too share this feeling...I used to know phone numbers of many people and businesses that I freaquent without looking......but now I do not even try to memorize them.....
I do, however, have a phone book in my purse where I back up my cell phone numbers...Guess I just worry about what if's.....better to be safe than sorry!!
P.S. I also have to write down birthdays now-a-days....just can not seem to remember all of them...not sure if it is the number of birthdays that I am trying to remember or if it is my mind getting duller in my advancing age...LOL
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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26 May 07
You might be right, it might be the age thing kicking in with me as I'm useless at remembering birthdays too! Thanks for your response!
@laila675 (528)
• United Arab Emirates
8 May 07
i guess so, as mobiles this day is a part of our life. me for example, if i forgot my mobile it's like i loose myself in one day. i keep notes on my mobile, the numbers that i can't remember, the reminders and almost everything. now if i lost it or forgot it, it's like the end of me. it already happend to me that my mobile got dumped on a soup and it got broken, i was not able to update my sim or my list, so i lost all of the new numbers and the notes that i keep on it. so i learned the lesson of keeping everything on my diary every now and then.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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22 May 07
It's a good idea to keep your numbers updated somewhere else other than your mobile! Thanks for your response!
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
8 May 07
Yes, and text messaging is the biggest problem.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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21 May 07
Yes we're all forgetting how to write properly in our own languages! Thanks for your response!
@ItTakesAllSorts (4096)
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7 May 07
You are so right, I do not know anyones mobile or landline number anymore, not even my mums, partner's or kid's off by heart. If I ever lost my phone I would loose them all as I do not have them written down anywhere.
I think after reading this I will get my phone and write them all in my address book, thats if I'm not too lazy!
Thanks for the reminder bizziebod.
1 person likes this
@utkarsh2 (49)
• India
8 May 07
Yes I agree. Phones are making our brains laizy. Now I can't remember any phone no. I only remember my wife's no. because I dial her Mobile no. from my office phone otherwise not. My mobile is my life line & if I loose it I will loose all my contact details with that too.
@jamesme135 (404)
• Malaysia
7 May 07
My cellphone stores all my family, friends and co-workers number! If I ever lose my cellphone, I wouldn't know any of their phone numbers. That's why right now, I back up all thier numbers into my PC using Excel.
I think mobile makes my brain lazy. I wouldn't bother to memorize all the numbers since I have it in my cellphone. Besides, I always use the calculator function in my cellphone, even to calculate simple maths. I need to exercise my brain cells more.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
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21 May 07
That's a good idea backing it up to Excel, never thought of that, then I could email it to work and have them all there too! Thanks for the tip!
@mamounz (248)
• Israel
8 May 07
yes i think so, and also we r getting more depending on the phone we use it know even in the most simple calculation instead using our brains we just open on the culculetor in the phone our u debend one phone every time to call your friand to help you in some thing need u to do some thinking but instead of that u just make your phone call and don't be creative. i have 2 of me friands which receiving many calls a very day that start make them confuse and forget a lot of things they can not focus any more.
@Bizziebod (3497)
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21 May 07
Gosh that sounds quite serious for your friends! Hope they are ok! Thanks for your response!
@frecklelip334 (1668)
• United States
8 May 07
ha, this made me laugh, cuz i totally agree! i cannot even remember my OWN phone number, let alone anyone else's. i have become soooo bad at that. and i just don't use my brain like i used to. it's sad, yet so convenient, hmmm...double-edged sword...ALTHOUGH i don't "lose" numbers like i used to. i was bad at putting everything in my address/phone book, but am quick to put everything in my cell...
@Bizziebod (3497)
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22 May 07
You know something? I can't remember my number most of the time which is quite bad as I give it out quite alot due to business. Thanks for your response!
