# Digital amnesia: Is your phone making you forget? 2026-08-09T01:59:12+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet A recent incident where a friend could not recall a single phone number after leaving her phone at home highlights a growing phenomenon called digital amnesia, writes Sharada in The Hindu. Researchers say when people know information can be retrieved instantly from a device, the brain makes less effort to remember it. The author observes young people interrupting conversations to search for facts they likely know, colleagues looking up numbers dialled for years, and children depending on GPS for familiar routes. The human brain, the article argues, now treats smartphones as an extension of its memory. Names are forgotten, conversations lose personal depth, and relationships suffer. The author asks whether some memories, phone numbers of loved ones, names, routes, a few poems, should never be outsourced to a device. ## Coverage - thehindu.com Tags: cognitive science, digital amnesia, Google effect, India, memory, smartphone dependency Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/digital-amnesia-is-your-phone-making-you-forget/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/digital-amnesia-is-your-phone-making-you-forget/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.