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Google - The internet has changed every part of our lives. We now have every piece of information we could ever want at our fingertips with search engines such as Google.

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Google searches - When Google first launched in 1998, there were around 10,000 searches per day on average. Today, the numbers are over 3.5 billion per day.

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Memory - Do you remember the last time you memorized someone's phone number? Or how about those long, hard-to-spell, tricky words that autocorrect now fixes for you?

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Memory - One of the biggest ways technology and the internet has affected the generation is by providing an external hard drive, so to speak, for memory.

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Memory - Researchers call this phenomenon "cognitive offloading," which is basically when we use external devices for the things we previously used our memories for.

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Cognitive offloading - While relying on the assistance of devices and search engines makes our lives easier, it also has disadvantages for our attention span and memory.

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Disadvantages - One consequence of cognitive offloading is that our real-life experiences become less vivid in our memory.

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Consequences - We may be able to do research in mere minutes with Google at our fingertips, but scientists believe we are losing our ability for focus and deep contemplation.

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Consequences - When we are constantly bombarded with the information available online, we engage in superficial learning and lose the ability to transfer information from working to long-term memory.

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Consequences - We also may be good at multitasking, but we are losing our creativity.

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Consequences - Other studies have shown that our attention spans are becoming shorter and we are more easily distracted.

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Reading - With e-books and readers, people are reading now more than ever. However, the way we read has changed.

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Reading - We are more likely to skim content, wanting more information but sacrificing deeper contexts.

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Reading - One study found that people who read actual paperbound books retain more information than those who read on a device.

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Reading - This may be due to our use of spacial context in memory, in which we depend on location cues in order to assimilate information into memory. For example, watching the thickness of the book change as we turn pages can help us remember where specific information is located.

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Social skills - Many people wonder about how constant device usage and social media hurt our ability to socialize.

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Social skills - A study found that students who were separated from their technology devices for five days and forced to interact showed improvements in emotional and social intelligence.

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Search engines - Studies have shown that people who rely on search engines to answer questions or provide information are more likely to overestimate their intelligence.

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Various learning styles - With the availability of different learning mediums online, children are less likely to read a book or manual to learn about something, and more likely to watch videos.

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Illusion of accessibility - The ease at which Google provides answers to inquiries leads people to believe that answers are always within reach. Instead of evaluating the information for accuracy, Google users are content to accept the information as is and move on.

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Brain activity - A study looking at adult brain activity while performing Google searches found that those who have experience using the internet show twice as much brain activity than those who do not.

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Brain activity -

This study showed that internet searching is a mental exercise that may keep us healthier and more alert. However, it should not be overused.

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Independence of information - Since Google is a linear process, it treats information as a destination, often times making the learning process incredibly binary.

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Independence of information -

In this sense, information seekers tend to find the information that they want or that is more convenient instead of what they need.

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Information - One study by researchers at Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people were less likely to remember information when finding it online, but were more likely to remember where they found it.

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Video games - When technology is used properly, it can actually prove to be beneficial. One study looked at video game players.

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Video games - Researchers found that those who played the game (versus those who didn't) had increased gray matter in their hippocampus and cerebellum, important regions of the brain for memory.

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Technology -

Contrary to what most people may believe, the use of technology to facilitate our daily lives is not new. We have been relying on external "devices" for centuries.

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Technology -

However, the rate at which we develop new technology and the extent to which we depend on it could bring new benefits and consequences in future years.

Sources: (Huffingtonpost) (Kqed) (Newsweek)

See also: Extinct human species: how different were they from us?

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