Using Memory Carefully and Offloading Information Onto Tech!

Have you ever been in a situation in your adult life when you had to name all 50 states from memory? What about the quadratic formula? The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? How about the order of United States presidents? Your answer is probably a resounding NO, but how many of us who were in high school in the mid 2010s or earlier have these tidbits of information cemented into our brain – I know I do. 

I can recall these pieces of knowledge and anecdotes off the top of my head, but I have a hard time remembering things that will actually help me in the present, like advice about my future career from the MIT program thus far. Our memory space has been filled up by the public education system, all for the privilege of having a thorough command of absolutely useless information. 😐 Lucky for today's students, they can avoid all of this headache because of how advanced technology has become. 

Almost all complex mathematical equations can be solved with the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger (sorry math teachers), all historical facts can be found on Google, and there still isn't a way to do a rhetorical analysis with technology. 😎 But seriously, the new "basics" of knowledge aren't memorized tidbits, they're how to navigate a world that is becoming rapidly more modernized. Things like managing a social media presence, writing an email, and creating a strong LinkedIn page are what students are going to take and run with when they move beyond high school and college, not having memorized the food chain of sub-Saharan African wildlife. 

Let's do all of our students a favor and not only give them the valuable tools necessary to take on the modern world as an adult, but let them offload information onto technology so they can spare their limited memory!