THE RISE AND IMPACT OF DIGITAL AMNESIA

The Kaspersky Lab findings suggest that our inability to retain important information is due to the fact that we are handing over responsibility for remembering it to digital devices such as smartphones.

Digital Amnesia: the experience of forgetting information that you trust to a digital device to store and remember for you.

A Kaspersky Lab study has found many of us struggle to recall memories trusted to connected devices. It found evidence of Digital Amnesia across all age groups and equally among both men and women.

OUR RELIANCE ON DIGITAL DEVICES

THE IMPACT OF COMPROMISED OR LOST DATA

The loss or compromise of data stored on digital devices, and smartphones in particular, would leave many users devastated.

More than half of women (51%) and almost the same number of 25 to 34 year olds (49%) whole be overwhelmed by sadness since they have memories stored on their devices that they believe they might never get back.

One in four women (27%) and 35% of 16 to 24 year olds would be totally panicked: their devices are the only place they store images and contact information.

51

27

30

DESPITE OUR RELIANCE, WE FAIL TO PROTECT THE DEVICES STORING OUR MEMORIES

Connected devices serve a crucial role in our daily lives, and yet the study found that Americans are failing to adequately protect those devices with readily available security products.

Connected devices enrich our lives but they have also given rise to Digital Amnesia. We need to understand the long term implications of this for how we remember and how we protect those memories.

91%

DIGITAL AMNESIA IN PRACTICE

If information is easily accessible, consumers are not likely to commit that information to memory 91% admitted that they use the Internet as an online extension of their brain.

44%

Almost half (44%) of those surveyed say that their smartphone holds almost everything they need to know or recall.

%

%

%

21 %

28 %

Just a quarter installs extra IT security on their smartphone (30%) or tablet (21%)

28% don’t protect any of their devices with additional security.

Source: The rise and impact of Digital Amnesia 2015, Kaspersky Lab with Opinion Matters