An observation:

On-demand text search (think Google) makes you reliant to on-demand text search.

You don't remember the specific piece of information you're looking for any more -- rather, you've offloaded the particulars and now you remember how to work the interface to access it, plus the minimum amount of information required to feed the interface.

When was the last time you drove somewhere for the first time without navigation software?

Regularly using a tool makes you reliant on that tool.

That could be ok -- we use tools to accomplish more than our human bodies can accomplish on their own. That is part of why we are able to thrive -- it's natural for humans to do.

It does seem worth asking if you're well-served when you're using a tool to accomplish a task you could do by hand.

Until you've tried and failed, you might not know where the real limit to your ability is. If you bail out and use a tool before then, you'll never find out.

If you don't understand how a tool works -- if you can't replicate its behavior -- then are you well-served by relying on it?

The answer to these questions isn't always "no". There's always more to life than a single person can accomplish.

but I think you have to ask yourself these things. I think it's important.

Here is a repeatable procedure:

Do it all by hand first

Note where the friction is.

Eventually, factor out some of that friction with an automated process

(Examples?)