Tell me if you’ve noticed any of the following in your behaviour over the past couple of years: You no longer bother remembering phone numbers, you just put them in your phone. You’re talking to a friend about a movie, can’t remember the star, and turn to Wikipedia or the IMDB. Someone has seemed annoyed that you actually phoned them instead of texting or “Facebooking” them. You can’t seem to get into books like you used to. You’ve joked that you have a disorder because of your poor recall or attention. Nicholas Carr has written a few articles addressing this topic, including Is Google Making Us Stupid? in the Atlantic Monthly, and Computing The Cost in The Sun Magazine. This topic is nothing new, this 1998 Science Daily article touches on it. And the book iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, by leading neuroscientist Gary Small actually brings some hard science into the discussion. What’s new is that we’re seeing and experiencing the results of the theory every day. You can for instance (you Facebook test addicts will love this) take this quick on line test to see if you’re addicted to the Internet. Personally, I feel like I have this under control; I scored a 41. My frustration is that I’m convinced that technology is affecting my love life. I’m pretty sure I haven’t “dated” anyone since 2005. I mean, I’ve gone on “dates”, I think, but actual courting (flowers, gifts, etc.) seemed to turn women off, and whenever I phoned, they’d seem annoyed. The texting would occasionally get hot and heavy, but would always devolve into dialogues like “OMG UR SO HAWT<3″ and “<3 U2″. I used to blame this dating failure on losing my looks, or the basic math involved. I’ve since become convinced that it has more to do with the fact that all the intelligent chicks are playing word games on Facebook, and not answering my pokes as a result. That’s part of why, although I think I’m falling in love with someone in real life right now, I’ll probably just get married on Facebook instead.