Five ways your computer can make you smarter

25 April 2014 by Infinite Ideas in Lifestyle

by Darren Bridger, author of Boost your memory

Depending on how we use them, computers can make us smarter or dumber. The explosion of information available to us online can leave us feeling overwhelmed, distracted and unable to concentrate deeply. Also, ever since a super-computer beat world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a game in 1997, our days as the most intelligent species on the planet have seemed numbered. Many jobs are already being automated with the trend set to continue into the future.

Is there anything we can do to effectively adapt to this smarter, faster-paced world?

The truth is that we can work in tandem with computers to enhance our own intelligence. Until the day we can all have a silicon-chip implant to make us smarter, here are some apps and ideas to use your computer or smartphone to boost your intelligence.

Memory boosting. Whenever we learn something new, our memory of it tends to drop off rapidly. The best way to halt the decline is carefully timed repetition of the material. Apps such as Supermemo, Memrise and Anki have a range of memory-boosting courses which give you timed reminders in order to stop the curve of forgetting.

Speed-reading. Two things slow us down when reading: the tendency to hear the words in our minds and the act of moving our eyes across and down the page. Apps such as Spreeder and Spritz (see our blog post Spritz speed-reading app: A blessing for modern readers?) can cut these problems out by presenting words one by one in the centre of the screen at high speed.

Learn online. Google may appear to have all the answers, but it takes an informed mind to ask the smart questions, and the web offers many other ways to learn almost anything you can think of. Check out Learnist, Khan Accademy and for more advanced courses, MIT’s Open Courseware site.

Boost your IQ. IQ is the horsepower of the engine of your brain. By training our ‘working memory’ – the number of bits of information we can keep in our mind at any one time – we can boost our IQ. Apps such as IQ Boost and BrainFitPro turn working-memory into a game. Persist and you genuinely could improve your IQ.

Track yourself! The ancient Greek aphorism ‘know thyself’ may have become more practical thanks to our computers. Apps such as MoodPanda or TallyZoo can help you track your own habits and perhaps learn about yourself. Alternatively, try using free online spreadsheets (Google Drive) to keep track of anything you like, such as what time of day you feel most alert, or the effect of your diet on your mood. Such tracking could yield big rewards in performance.

Finally, if all else fails and you just want a way to stop the intrusive, concentration-crushing effect of the web, try an app like Freedom, available for PC and MAC, to block you from web-browsing for a set length of time, or Anti-Social, which does the same but just for social media sites like Facebook.