If you are looking for a phone number, there is a high probability someone at Leader World Headquarters will be able to rattle off the number from memory.
There is a low probability that person will be me, because I only have one number memorized. My own number, of course.
That makes me think these devices we call “smartphones” might be making me dumb. We all carry them, but are they making us smarter, or do we rely on them too much?
When we are deciding where to get lunch in the office, it is common for someone to know the number to the restaurant by heart. Any time I suggest La Pachanga in Festus, Laura Marlow, who sits next to me, will give me the number from memory. One time I suggested Gordon’s Stop Light Drive In and Carol Thomure was able to recite the number at the drop of a hat.
If I ever got into a situation where I had a dead phone battery and I needed to call someone, I would be out of luck. I don’t even have the Leader’s number memorized, and I give it out several times a day. Every time I share it, I’m reading it from one of my business cards.
While I do remember a time before cell phones, it’s been a long time. I got my first cell phone, which was a flip phone, in eighth grade.
Never really having to use a pay phone meant I never memorized anyone’s number. It also means by the time I was driving, I had a smartphone.
So, I also think my smartphone is making my sense of direction worse. I have to use Google Maps to pretty much get anywhere.
Last weekend, I offered to be my friend’s designated driver for a wedding. After dropping him off, I visited my parents while he was at the wedding, then I was to pick him up afterward. My mom questioned me about where I dropped my friend off in downtown St. Louis. I had truly no idea. All I could say was, “I dropped him off wherever Google told me.”
She said, “How will you know where to pick him up?”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I have the address. Google Maps will guide me.”
If my phone broke or had no power, my friend would have had to find a new ride.
I would be mentally and physically lost without my phone. One day Leader Editor Kim Robertson left her phone at home, and she did not seem worried about it. I, however, experienced a little anxiety for her.
While I think my phone might be affecting my long-term memory of numbers and street names, it also gives me the power to be a genius. Since I am never without my phone, that means I am never without the internet.
Do you know how many lakes are in Jefferson County? Well, I found out in about two seconds after Googling it. According to lake-link.com, Jefferson County has 25 lakes. Of course, I have no idea of the accuracy of this website. So, as my mother would say, “Take it with a grain of salt.”
Not everything on the internet is correct, of course, but I always have the power to research something quickly at the tips of my fingers. I know that part of the smartphone is making me smarter.
I love bits of trivia and once I learn a trivia fact, I always remember it. This always makes me a valuable trivia team player.
Trivial facts are likely taking up my brain space where phone numbers should be. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I’ll Google it on my smartphone.
