Hey there! This is TOP episode 325. The Google Effect Is Ruining Your Vocabulary. Let’s Fix It!
You read English. You understand English. You’ve been learning for years, but when it’s time to speak your mind just freezes, and the words don’t come out. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. My name’s Ola, and this is Teacher Ola Podcast. I’m here to help you finally speak out loud. This isn’t about perfect grammar or fancy vocabulary. This is about your voice. Your words. Your real English.
If you’ve ever noticed that you forget English words or grammar rules as soon as you look them up online, you’re not imagining it. There’s actually a name for this The Google Effect, or digital amnesia and it’s exactly what happens when our brains get used to outsourcing memory to the internet.
This doesn’t just affect vocabulary. It can make English tenses feel fragile in your head, make you hesitate when speaking, or even make you overthink every sentence. Basically, your brain stops building its own memory system because it knows Google is always there.
And that’s why I’m inviting you to my free live webinar, “English Tenses vs Poles.” It’s happening on February 1st at 8 p.m. I’ll show you how to stop relying on external memory and finally understand English tenses in a way that actually sticks, without just memorizing rules. If that sounds useful, you can sign up at teacherola.com/polacy.
—> Have you ever noticed that when you know you can look something up online, you just don’t bother trying to remember it? That’s a real thing, and scientists even have a name for it, the Google Effect, also called digital amnesia. It means that our brains are changing the way they remember things because the internet (especially search engines like Google) is always there to help us find answers.
Back in 2011, a psychologist named Betsy Sparrow and her colleagues did a real experiment on this. They asked students to read random facts and then tried to test how well they remembered them later. Some students were told that their answers would be saved on a computer (so they could look them up again). Others were told their answers would be erased, deleted. Guess what happened?
The students who thought the information was saved were worse at remembering the facts themselves, because they knew they could look them up later.
The researchers also found something interesting: when people expect information to be available later online, they often remember where to find it rather than the information itself. So our brains don’t stop remembering things, they just prioritize where the information lives instead of what it actually is.
This doesn’t mean we’re becoming stupid or incapable of memorising things. In fact, it might just reflect how memory adapts to a world where information is always a few taps or clicks away. Sparrow compared this to how we remember things from friends or family – I might forget someone’s phone number, but I remember that my mom knows it. The internet becomes like a giant external memory source, similar to that.
This matters for real life and for learning languages too. If you always check Google or your phone app for translations instead of trying to remember vocabulary, your brain doesn’t get practice storing those words, keeping them in your brain. But if you try to recall things yourself, that’s how you strengthen your memory.
Digital amnesia affects how deeply we process information. When we rely on digital tools to remember everything, we might not pay enough attention to information in the first place, which can make knowledge shallow or temporary.
The topic goes beyond just search engines. Studies from different countries show that many people depend on digital devices to remember personal information, like phone numbers and addresses, because they trust technology more than their own memory. When we hand over responsibility to our gadgets, we sometimes forget how to remember things ourselves.
Some research even suggests that this shift in memory isn’t entirely bad, many people now are better at remembering how to find answers quickly, which is a useful skill in a world full of information. But experts still argue that we need to balance technology with active engagement in memory tasks to keep our brains sharp.
—> Listen to this. Knowing about digital amnesia gives you power. Instead of letting the internet replace your memory, you can decide when to use it as a tool and when to challenge your brain to remember things on its own. That way your memory stays strong AND you still get all the benefits of technology.
So now I’m going to give you three practical tips on how to memorize English words better, especially if you feel like The Google Effect is making you forget things too easily. These are techniques I use as a language teacher and that research shows really work.
- Focus on active recall. Active recall means trying to remember a word or phrase from memory instead of just reading it or looking it up. For example, if you just learned the word “astonishing,” close your book or app and try to use it in a sentence. Research shows that making your brain work to retrieve information makes it stick much better than simply recognizing it. Even if you make a mistake, your memory gets stronger when you try to recall the word. Use flashcards because that way you practice actively.
- Use spaced repetition. Spaced repetition is when you review words at gradually increasing intervals, like after one day, then three days, then a week. This technique helps your brain transfer words into long-term memory. But don’t just repeat the word alone. Put it in sentences or short stories so your brain connects it with meaning and context. Studies going back to the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus show that spacing repetitions like this is far more effective than cramming everything in one session.
- Make learning slightly challenging. This means letting your brain struggle a little before you check the answer. For example, try to explain a new word in English with your own words, or describe it to a friend, instead of looking it up immediately. Research on “desirable difficulty” shows that when learning is a bit effortful, but still possible – you remember things longer. These small challenges help you become less dependent on Google or ChatGPT.
—> Let’s now practice a bit. Listen and repeat 10 sentences from today’s episode:
It means that our brains are changing
Google is always there to help us find answers.
They asked students to read random facts
Guess what happened?
They knew they could look them up later.
Our brains don’t stop remembering things
This doesn’t mean we’re becoming stupidthat’s how you strengthen your memory.
We might not pay enough attention
We hand over responsibility to our gadgets
If today’s episode gave you a clearer view of how your memory works with English words and why we sometimes forget things too easily, I’d love to invite you to my upcoming webinar English Tenses vs Poles – Angielskie czasy versus Polacy. We’ll explore the most common tense mistakes Polish learners make, why they happen, and how to finally choose the right tense with confidence. The webinar takes place on Sunday, 1st of February at 8 p.m., and you can sign up at teacherola.com/polacy.
That’s all from me for now. Don’t forget to head to teacherola.com/325 and grab your free worksheet – it’ll help you revise the key phrases from this episode. And if you want to practice speaking regularly, new groups are forming inside my Voice Loop program. You can check all the details and sign up at teacherola.com/grupy.
Thank you so much for listening. Stay fearless, take care, and say it out loud. I’m your teacher, Teacher Ola, and you’ve been listening to the Teacher Ola Podcast. bYE FOR NOW!