When I visited Beijing a few years back, I could not access Wikipedia due to censorship. This made me aware of how often I unconsciously checked things on the site - the annoyance of not getting the page made me note a previously unseen offloading habit.

I expect that many offloading methods work like this. We do not notice that we use them, and that adds to their usefulness. They do not waste our attention or cognition. But it also means that we are less likely to critically examine the activity. Is the information reliable? Are we paying an acceptable price for it? Would a break in the access be problematic for our functioning? Does the offloading bias us in some way?

The last point might be particularly relevant here. Some resources provide information easily, so they tend to be used in favour of more cumbersome sources. Online papers are easy, trips to the library take time and effort - so we cite online papers more, even when original old sources are more appropriate. If it is problematic to check that a system is calibrated right and important to use it (that deadline is tonight! the customers are waiting!), we might become extensions of biased collective cognition.

Maybe we need to develop check-lists for checking our outsourced cognition?