As a kid, I recall having to make an effort to look something up at say, the library or an encyclopedia.
Consequently, I "remembered" a lot more of what I searched for because it wasn't just a click away.
You had to work for it.
Still wish there were search engines back in the 70s, though.
I would have used the hell out of them.
The keyboard has wrecked my cursive writing—which never was particularly good, anyway.
People from cultures that relied on memorization and oral transmission probably said much the same thing about writing.
As for me, I wans *ALL* the information that has ever existed. About everything.
I need google and the internet to look up things that I’ve forgotten. As for what I had for dinner last night, I rely on post-it notes.......
Anyone remember “Ready Reference”? I loved it. You could telephone a reference librarian with a factual question, they would consult their collection of reference books and either tell you immediately or call you back with the answer. IIRC, this was in the 1950s and 1960s and I remember using it up until sometime in the 1970s.
Sometime in the 1970s, I began a collection of my own references. Not just encyclopedias, but various specialized quick reference collations. I was able to get rid of them (many were out of date) sometime in the late 1990s when I finally was able to access the Internet. This was pre-Google. Again, I was in love. I felt as though I had a universe of ready reference librarians at my very own fingertips.
Now, I am old and my memory is not what it used to be. When I draw a blank on a name, an event, a date, a spelling, a conversion (weight/temp/distance/currency), a specific term, I can quickly access the correct information. I fill in my personal blank quickly and that specific information will stay with me. There is no accumulated weight of lost or forgotten information. The gaps are so quickly filled, it is nearly seamless.
I don’t see instant information as a negative at all. It does not make me lazy. It is just as much of an adjunct to my own memory as contacts are an adjunct to my vision. I still need to know what information I need and I also need to know the relevant key words to find it. I still work for it, but it is less onerous work. It still stays with me.