Wait Before You Retweet That. You're Probably Going to Forget It.
How's this for crazy? Chances are, you don't remember what you just retweeted . Now we're not talking about the normal memory lapses -- where you put the keys, your glasses and your toddler (just kidding). But newswise.com reports that retweeting or otherwise sharing information creates a “cognitive overload” that interferes with learning and retaining what you’ve just seen. I can totally relate. "Most people don’t post original ideas any more. You just share what you read with your friends,” says Qi Wang, professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. “But they don’t realize that sharing has a downside. It may interfere with other things we do.” Wang and colleagues in China conducted experiments showing that “retweeting” interfered with learning and memory, both online and off. At computers in a laboratory setting, two groups were presented with a series of messages from Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twi...