Google Effect
Digital Amnesia
The tendency to forget information that can be found readily online by using Internet search engines such as Google.
Origin
Psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University, Jenny Liu, and Daniel Wegner of Harvard University described the phenomenon in their July 2011 paper "Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips," published in Science. They found that people are less likely to remember facts they believe can be looked up online, but better at remembering where to find them — a form of transactive memory, a concept Wegner himself had introduced in 1985.
Everyday Use
Quick — what's your best friend's phone number? You probably don't know it, because your phone does. We've outsourced an enormous amount of memory to Google, Wikipedia, and GPS. We remember less of the "what" and more of the "where to find it" — and our brains have quietly adapted.