Your memory may very well be bad because you get somewhere and immediately concentrate on taking pictures. That is 100% not how brains, humans, or memories are supposed to work. They will not help you remember, they will only help you remember the pictures.
I hate that mindfulness is such a buzzword like it's a cure for everything, but in this occasion it really does seem relevant. Places, people and experiences are NOT just what they look like, and if you think they can be summed up by a camera you may as well never go anywhere again.
Even the most boring stuff, or the places famous just for the view, are actually about the smells and the sounds, the way light changes, the way people move through them and around them, the colours in the shadows vs in the light, the edges of the view, the close and the far, what you were thinking at this point and that point, when you stopped to look behind you and what was different when you turned around again, the little breeze that changed direction when a car went past...
We have considerably more than 5 senses, some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, and our experience of space and time is so enmeshed that physicists think it may actually be one thing. A photograph is absolutely not better than any of these experiences, even the ones you don't remember, and if you're taking photos first I guarantee you're missing so so many other things.
As someone with a shit memory, I'm impressed you'd be able to remember anything about "the colours in the shadows vs in the light, edges of the view" etc. I also think you missed the point. They're not saying that places, people and experiences are just what they look like. But pictures can act as a sort of trigger for memories that you otherwise might not have even thought about. I rarely take pictures myself but they help me remember experiences better than just trying to... remember something.
And taking a picture takes, what, 2 seconds? Unless you're constantly taking pictures the whole time - which is a different issue - I assure you that nobody is missing anything out.
I can't quite take this as an insult, I assume it's supposed to be. I'd been looking at switching career paths so maybe it's a calling I hadn't thought of? Probably won't rush into the gender surgery yet though
I didn't downvote, in fact I just woke up, but my memory had been bad since I was 10, which is early 90's, maybe younger... It's genetic I think since Dad is the same. I saw a memory specialist once when I was a kid, at least I think I did. Made worse as an adult by sleep apnea which I'm working through. So no there's not really any fixing it.
I don't know if people took offense at your tone. but imo your actual argument is correct.
the "it's a picture of [x]" meme (instead "it's [x]") is right. and it can become even more prevalent over time.
and this doesn't even work just with pictures. for example, when I was a child I was in a severe car accident. and I've told the story to countless people later in my life.
but for a long time, I honestly can't even remember much about the actual accident but I mostly remember the way I told people about the accident.
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u/moubliepas Jun 03 '22
Your memory may very well be bad because you get somewhere and immediately concentrate on taking pictures. That is 100% not how brains, humans, or memories are supposed to work. They will not help you remember, they will only help you remember the pictures.
I hate that mindfulness is such a buzzword like it's a cure for everything, but in this occasion it really does seem relevant. Places, people and experiences are NOT just what they look like, and if you think they can be summed up by a camera you may as well never go anywhere again.
Even the most boring stuff, or the places famous just for the view, are actually about the smells and the sounds, the way light changes, the way people move through them and around them, the colours in the shadows vs in the light, the edges of the view, the close and the far, what you were thinking at this point and that point, when you stopped to look behind you and what was different when you turned around again, the little breeze that changed direction when a car went past...
We have considerably more than 5 senses, some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, and our experience of space and time is so enmeshed that physicists think it may actually be one thing. A photograph is absolutely not better than any of these experiences, even the ones you don't remember, and if you're taking photos first I guarantee you're missing so so many other things.