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Since the publication of
Since the publication of a landmark 1989 study in the Journal of Neuroscience, experts have recognized that the sleeping brain likes to run through its recent experiences and that this “replay” supports learning and memory. More recently, they figured out that replay also takes place while we’re awake.
When you experience something new and potentially useful — for example, you hear an interesting story on the radio — your brain will immediately replay this experience, at 20x speed.
This replay process is
This replay process is mostly unconscious and automatic. It takes place in the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain that sorts and stores information — turning new experiences into durable memories.
One of the functions of replay is to strengthen your brain’s grip on new information, sort of like how repeating someone’s name just after you’ve heard it can help you remember it.
There may be more
There may be more significant downsides.
Some preliminary work in the journal Computers in Human Behavior has linked social media information overload to depressive symptoms and reduced overall well-being.
More work has found that replay-related states — sleeping, downtime — may support hippocampal health in ways that strengthen emotional processing and counteract mood disorders.
The picture that emerges from all this work is that an overloaded brain is a confused brain — one that may be prone to lapses in memory, judgment, and emotion regulation.
It’s not an exaggeration
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the replay process undergirds all forms of learning and many aspects of behavior.
Without it, your brain can’t do much with the information it encounters.
The takeaway lesson is
The takeaway lesson is that your brain needs breathers — moments of distraction-free wandering interspersed throughout your day, and perhaps, especially just after you’ve engaged with useful information.
On the other hand, if you fill every idle moment with inbox checks or social media scrolling, your brain — and maybe also your mind — will pay a price for it.
Inundating the brain with a constant flow of information prevents this opportunity for replay and thus will have detrimental effects on learning, memory, and decision-making.
The good news is
The good news is that, if left alone, your mind tends to take replay breaks.
The bad news is most websites have a constant stream of information.
There’s the “infinite scroll” design of most social media sites.
While these design features keep you “engaged” they don’t give your brain much time to sort, store, or make sense of what you’ve encountered.
At the very least, this can lead to memory failures, especially for fine-grained details.
