Know what? How digital technologies undermine learning and remembering

Are digital technologies affecting how we learn, what we know, and how we remember? We examine three aspects of these questions: the impact of the internet on cognitive skills, the way GPS is reshaping abilities to navigate physical space, and differences between digital and print reading. The goal of the analysis is to understand potential effects of digital technologies on educational practices and goals. We begin by reviewing research demonstrating the growing tendency to depend on digital devices and the internet to do our remembering for us. Regarding GPS, there is mounting evidence that reliance on GPS devices reduces our ability to navigate physical space on our own. Worryingly, studies indicate correlations between decreased navigational skills and dementia. Finally, the article documents how digital reading tends to lead to a more superficial approach to text than traditional print. Technologies have consequences, including in education. If digital technologies lead to diminished memory, lower our ability to find our way in physical space, and foster shallower reading, we need to consider the consequences for both formal and informal learning. •Digital devices and the internet lead us to depend on them to remember for us.•Reliance on GPS reduces our own ability to navigate physical space.•Decreased human navigation skills correlate with dementia.•Digital screens foster shallower reading than do print texts.•Digital technologies potentially undermine educational goals.