Alarms, notifications, and digital lists can only go so far; instead, use these tricks and your own brain power to learn things by heart.

I hate to admit it, my inner dystopian foresees a sad dull future in which humankind becomes so beholden to technology that we slowly lose the ability to think on our feet. Already, thanks to our smartphones, younger generations no longer need to learn their way around new places, know phone numbers of friends and family, remember birthdays, or know how to calculate simple math.

“What we don’t realize when we opt for the convenience or ease technology offers is that we’re denying ourselves the ability to create rich talents,” Nicholas Carr, an expert on the topic, told Time magazine. “Without practice, our brains begin to lose these talents for deep thinking or maintained focus.”

Which is why I adore this collection of seven tips for how to remember things. Shopping lists, a group of words, long numbers – these kinds of things can easily be stored in the brain of your machine rather than in your very own living brain ... but what fun is that? And besides, by honing your memory skills and other "rich talents," you keep your mind agile – all the better to resist a dystopian future filled with smart devices and slow brains.