By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
A 28-year-old salaried woman Lee, who works at a cosmetics company, often forgets passwords for her e-mail accounts these days.
``I have different passwords for each of my 10 e-mail accounts. I wrote those passwords in my diary and it’s difficult for me to get access to e-mail accounts without the help of the diary. I am just overwhelmed by passwords for e-mail accounts,’’ said Lee.
Lim, a 30-year-old worker at a telecommunication company always carries many digital devices with him. He handles his schedule with a mobile phone with wireless Internet access and a PDA in order to efficiently manage his complicated work.
However, Lim says he forgets things more often now compared to the days he wrote his appointments in a notebook. ``Last week, I had to go to a department store where I had left my clothes to be repaired. However, I just could not remember which department store it was,'' he said. Worried Lim went to the hospital, but the doctor said there was nothing wrong with him and recommended a rest.
Experts say more and more salaried men in their 20s and 30s are suffering from memory failure known as ``digital dementia'' due to their excessive dependency on digital devices like cell phones or PDAs, rather than suffering for any particular brain disorder.
``Digital dementia’’ is a side effect of abundant use of digital devices. Unlike before, people these days are not required to make much effort to remember things as they are just a button away from all the necessary information which is stored in cell phones, PDAs or navigators. All they have to do is just search through them. Easy access to the Internet also weakens memory capacity. Whenever people ask others about something, you will very likely hear: ``Check the Internet.’’
In a recent survey by the job search Internet portal Incruit and research company Embrain of 2,030 salaried men, 63 percent or 1,281 said they suffered from forgetfulness. More than 60 percent of the workers aged between 20 and 30 said they are forgetful. Asked what causes forgetfulness, 20.4 percent or 261 respondents answered that an environment overwhelmed by digital devices lessens the need for them to remember things.
``As people are more dependent on digital devices for searching information than memorizing, the brain function for searching improves whereas an ability to remember decreases,'' said Yoon Se-chang, a professor and doctor at Samsung Medical Center.
He went on to say that people who suffer from digital dementia do not have to worry so much, since it is a temporary phenomenon and can be cured by improved concentration and memorization.
michelle@koreatimes.co.kr
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