In the reviewed article, Clive Thompson discusses shortcomings of human prospective memory that, unlike retrospective memory, can hardly be aided by the means of technology. The author emphasizes that technology is very successful in supplementing our retrospective memory by offering people an opportunity to log almost every important moment in their lives and be able to easily retrieve it when needed. Yet, Thompson argues, it is our prospective memory that fails us the most and interferes with our personal and professional success. This type of memory is mainly responsible for remembering tasks and commitments that have to fulfilled in the future. Making oneself remember the proper task at the right space at the right point of time is not an easy task, but technology may also offer a solution by creating reminders that are sensitive not only to time, but also to the location. Sending people cues about their tasks in the appropriate places is suggested as an effective way to hack how prospective memory works. This may, indeed, be an effective solution, but this article inspires other important questions that should be considered before implementing it into one’s life.

The first couple of questions arises right after reading the first few paragraphs of the article. Is experiencing difficulties with prospective memory a new phenomenon? And to what extend may this phenomenon be attributed to technology? Drawing conclusions from my personal experience and acquired knowledge, people have always experienced difficulties with remembering their tasks and commitments. This is not a new phenomenon, but technological advances might have increased the scope of this problem. Learning to rely on technology for remembering our past, we might automatically place hopes on technology for remembering the future. Carefully filling our calendars, setting alarms and reminders, we outsource the need to remember the upcoming tasks to our devices that prove to be so helpful in recording the past. From this perspective, it is possible that technology may be partly responsible for our struggles with remembering our to do’s. Limiting the extant to which we rely on our devices for supplementing memory may be a solution in this case.

Secondly, technology may partly be to blame for the shortcomings of prospective memory because it substantially increases the number of distractions that call for our attention every moment. Mobile devices have surrounded us with multiple notifications and created the ability and simultaneously the necessity to react to distant matters as soon as we are informed of them. Handling business matters over phone or email while at home, or resolving an argument with family member via instant messaging while attending a lengthy meeting has become a normal practice. While these are great possibilities that allow us to transcend our physical location, they also interfere with our ability to focus on what is happening here and now, not to mention the tasks and commitments we have to fulfill in the short future. From this point of view, setting up more notifications and reminders about tasks may either contribute the to overall level of distraction that interferes with our prospective memory, or it may serve as an effective adaptation strategy that would allow us to keep up with the pace of modern life.

The article describes a new era in mobile apps, designed to send out notifications that are based to just on the set time, but on the user’s current location. This has become possible by advances in technology that make our devices smaller and more powerful every year. Every phone now easily determines its location through GPS services. Creating a notification app that would communicate though API with another program that knows the device’s precise location at a given moment, allows the user to set reminders that are triggered by certain location. Hence, it becomes possible to set up a reminder to get milk and olive oil you have run out of few weeks ago that would get triggered the moment you walk into the grocery store.

Making reminders sensitive to user’s actual location in space is an excellent way to hack the progressive memory which is not easily tricked by different cues. Yet, such an approach does not address all the difficulties that may interfere with one’s ability to stay on top of their tasks. Namely, in order to be effective, such location sensitive reminders should pop up precisely at the moment when one is in position and has all the resources needed to complete this task, which is not always easily related to time or space. For instance, one may need to remember to email her friend and ask to take care of the dogs for the time she goes on vocation. However, before emailing her friend she has to book a flight and make hotel arrangements so that she can inform her friends of precise dates the help is needed. Thus, a smart reminder should be able to take into account the appropriate sequence of actions to be able to make suggestions when the person is not only in place, but also in a position to complete the task.

Drawing conclusions, the reviewed article discusses the important issue of prospective memory shortcomings and describes an available technology-based solution that features location-sensitive reminders about the tasks one has to complete. This may serve as a productive adaption strategy that allows people to keep up with the pace of the modern world but it may also make the issue of forgetting important things even more severe accustoming users to rely on their devices for remembering both the past and the future. Choosing what point of view to accept regarding this matter is a personal choice for everyone. I personally believe that it is great that technology frees up our mental energy to direct it at matters other than remembering mundane to do’s. Yet, I also think that the existing technological solution should be improved a great deal before it can be relied on by users.