The “Google effect” is real.[1] With the internet at our fingertips, we easily come to rely on it for everything, including many things we used to remember on our own. But what is lost when we outsource our memory to machines?
To be sure, humans have always outsourced some memory tasks to technologies: We write to-do lists on paper, we keep records, we have books, we take pictures and so on. But what happens to us when our default mode is just to “Google it” — or now, to “ask Chat” (or Claude or Gemini or Siri)?
It’s not being a Luddite or old-fashioned to wonder if we lose something important when we offload more and more cognitive effort to machines. This has been a perennial concern of many astute thinkers. Plato warned about what the technology of writing would do to human memory. Thoreau worried about what the telegraph would do to local community. Such thinkers weren’t wrong: They were drawing attention to the very real tradeoffs created by any technology. And now, the question takes this form: What happens to human memory — and with it, human intellect and virtue — in the age of Google and AI?
Mounting research is revealing not only the negative cognitive and social effects of relying too much on these technologies but also the importance of intentionally developing one’s memory and attention span. Long before the digital age, philosophers and theologians had already developed a robust understanding of the role and value of human memory, valuing it as a gateway to true learning and wisdom even when they could have chosen to rely on manuscripts, books and libraries as storehouses of knowledge.
Christians especially have prized memory through the ages, knowing that memorization plays a vital role in developing intellectual and moral virtue. As the Psalmist penned millennia ago, “I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11). Medieval Christians sometimes used the imagery of gardening and beekeeping to illustrate the work of dwelling with and tending a body of knowledge: As we dwell in the “vineyard” of a text that has been stored in our own minds, we till its soil, harvest its fruit, and discover wisdom that would not be available to us had the information remained stored only on the printed page. They understood that storing up lasting words and songs in our hearts does something to us: We are shaped by the words as they become part of us.
Why memory matters
Human memory is an astounding mystery and gift; it has expansive power and remarkable plasticity. Developing our attention and memory directs us toward the attainment of true knowledge, wisdom and virtue. As the great Roman orator Quintilian said, “We only know as much as we retain by memory.” How opposite to the prevalent cultural beliefs about learning and memorization today.
Contemporary educational theory tends to denigrate memorization as “rote” and dull. During my years as a high school history teacher, I heard many times in professional development sessions that memorization is boring and that it stunts a child’s creativity. We were told to move beyond “drill and kill” memorization and focus on higher order thinking skills.
I learned pretty quickly in the classroom, however, that if students don’t have anything in their brains to think about, they won’t be able to do any critical thinking anyway. Humans knew and accepted this truth for millennia; only recently have we forgotten it. Classical educator Dr. Andrew Campell explains:
The great ancient rhetoricians considered a strong memory indispensable for their craft. Medieval and Renaissance thinkers turned out books … containing elaborate systems to train the memory to store copious amounts of material and access it instantly. Today we stand amazed at the oratorical skills of political figures of the 19th century and shake our heads in dismay at the sloganeering and sound bites that pass for political discourse today. … Surely something precious has been lost. That something is our memory.[2]
The practice of memory
Thankfully, the human mind is like a muscle: It gets stronger with use. And when exercised and developed, as Campbell puts it, “you need never be bored or alone if you carry within yourself the wisdom of the ages.”[3]
Hence, the goal is not to stuff our minds full of random facts; it is to develop a rich storehouse of meaningful truth, wisdom and living ideas. Philosopher Stratford Caldecott explains that “true human memory is not mechanical repetition; it is an organic assimilation and appropriation.”[4]
We too, like those who came before us, can turn our minds into memory palaces — into springs filled with words and ideas that never run dry. When we immerse ourselves in Scripture, we are bolstering our faith. When we sink into the rhythms of elegant language and song, we are “cultivating wisdom and inscribing truth and beauty in the soul.”[5] By memorizing things that are true, good and beautiful, we are ushering ourselves into the Great Tradition; we begin communing with living ideas — ideas that live forever because they are true.
But where do we even start? How do we do this? While we should not conceive of this process as a series of steps that when mechanically followed produce a certain outcome, there are some basic guidelines that make memory work more joyful and fruitful.
1. Imitate the good.
We cultivate a creative, living memory when we imitate what is true, good and beautiful. Creativity and imagination do not spontaneously emerge. They grow in the soil of following great models of the past with their patterns of language and images of beauty.
2. Follow the pattern of natural language acquisition.
Campbell explains that “natural language acquisition follows a predictable pattern. First we listen, then we speak, then we read, then we write. … I have become convinced that, in order to memorize, we must replicate this acquisition process by listening to the material, reciting it, and reading and copying it by hand repeatedly.”[6] This organic process of language acquisition can be mirrored in our memory work practices. Ancient, medieval and modern practices of using mnemonic devices, chunking memory work into smaller sections and creating mental images are also time-tested.
3. Connect memory work to larger ideas and beautiful things.
It is vital to connect what is being memorized to a larger context of other living ideas. This helps us “comprehend the unification of knowledge and ideas, and to establish the habit of practicing moral and intellectual virtues.”[7] This also helps us avoid falling into the traps of meaningless memorization, where what is being memorized is not connected to a larger story and imaginative picture. We never want to treat the human mind as if it were simply a “meat computer.” We are not doing data downloads or uploads; we are being formed by what we store up in our hearts.
4. Develop a pattern of review and practice.
For memory work to really stick, it must be revisited and reviewed. The whole point is for the text to become part of us, so that we really know it, retain it and can draw from it. If memory work is just crammed and never returned to, the whole point has been missed. We must develop habits that enable us to return to what we’ve memorized at intervals, facilitating deep memory.
5. Choose lasting words.
We want to build memory palaces filled with the living Word of God, which works repentance, faith and sanctification. Combined with Scripture, Luther’s Small Catechism is a fitting tool to develop an understanding of what it all means. We also want our hearts and minds to overflow into hymns that express the truth, goodness and beauty of Christianity. Hymns plant the faith deep within our bones, further shaping a Scriptural imagination.
A well-rounded memory program also includes texts beyond Scripture, the catechism and the hymnal. Notable speeches from history, passages from great works of literature, wisdom sayings, riddles and poetry all play an important role in nurturing creativity and wisdom. Poems especially foster rich and playful use of language and metaphors while also providing direct experiences of beauty, opportunities for reflection and models for finding meaning in the mundane.
Building these treasure-filled memory palaces in our day is a daunting task. Cultivating our memory and attention takes real effort. But the fruit of the harvest comes with long-lasting rewards. The ancient and medieval academies that built the culture we treasure understood this. They knew that minds are like beehives — just as bees bring sweet drops of nectar back to the hive and store them for later use, so too our minds are capable of gathering and storing knowledge and wisdom, as sweet as nectar, in the orderly cells of the honeycomb. This is a biblical image as well, for we read that wisdom is like honey (Prov. 24:13–14) and the Word of the Lord is “sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalm 119:103). May the Lord make it so for us.
[1] Betsy Sparrow et al., “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips.” Science 333, vol. 6043 (July 2011): 776-778 DOI:10.1126/science.1207745
[2] Andrew Campbell, Living Memory: A Classical Memory Work Companion (FL: Quidnam, 2008), 8.
[3] Campbell, Living Memory, 8.
[4] Stratford Caldecott, Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education (NY: Angelico Press, 2012), 50.
[5] Adrienne Freas, Narration: The Art of the Trivium (TX: Beautiful Teaching, 2025), 3.
[6] Campbell, Living Memory, 9.
[7] Freas, Narration, 51.
Cover image: LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford
