We take so many pictures as people and where do we go. It’s fun to take photos and post them on Instagram and view your friends pics, I am not saying stop that. I am saying can we add actual photographs back into the mix? When we take all those pictures and upload them to social media they get the initial reaction and then they disappear. Even worse, we tend to forget about them. All those pictures merely serve as a way for our exes to stalk us in the future instead of their real purpose: to remind us of the awesome times.
According to Psychology Today, “If people review the pictures, this seems to help memory. This serves as a form of rehearsal. In families, reviewing pictures can serve as a scaffold that enables conversations about the past with children. In this way, pictures can strengthen both memory and relationships. But this only works if you review the pictures.”
If you don’t review the pictures they don’t help foster those connections. How often do you really look at and examine your photos stored online? What’s more interesting is that taking the photo doesn’t do anything for your memory, which makes sense. When you’re taking a picture you’re more focused on getting a good photo then what’s actually happening in front of you. It’s why people who only go to concerts to take photos have just got the wrong idea. A few pictures is great, but having your phone out the whole time not only blocks the view of other people it defeats the purpose of having an experience.
“You might expect that setting up the picture would improve memory. People have to think about arranging the picture and they have to focus the camera. This effortful processing should improve memory. But that isn’t what Henkel found. She had participants take a guided tour of a museum and take pictures of some exhibits, but not others. On a memory test a few days later, people performed more poorly for the items that they took pictures of.”
The author also warns of the fact that pictures can replace memory, if you look at a photograph of yourself smiling although you were unhappy that day, you may be susceptible to believing you were actually happy when you weren’t but I’m not too worried about this. I studied abroad for 4 months and it was an epic time, yet I can barely remember what London or Paris looks like, until I look at photos of my time there. Then people I’ve forgotten come back to mind, experiences I had. Not the general experience but those moments where something funny happened. Maybe we don’t need Instant film cameras, maybe we just need to spend a little more time remembering the awesome stuff we’ve done.
Can We Bring Back Actual Photographs And Memories?
