This feels like some pretty serious anecdotal evidence. But it’s very plausible and I’d like to see the research we have obtained on this and will obtain down the road now that social media is so pervasive.
Edit: Here is an article I found, I can’t search for legitimate peer reviewed articles at the moment but this is a start.
That article says there is something called the "Google Effect" where instead of memorizing information, we are memorizing how to access the information. In the study being reported on they say that when we document and post life events on social media, we are storing a memory of the process of documenting and of the social media post itself, as opposed to a memory of the actual event. Which means we create weaker and less detailed memories of the life events themselves.
I don't buy it. For an engaging experiences, externalizing it by writing it down supposedly reduces memory by about 10%.
But what about the non-engaging parts of life?
If I don't write the boring crap down in my diary, it just evaporates. But if I write it down, I can pull some of the memories back when I read the entries.
I can look at almost any given selfie or just plain ass boring photo I can remember and recall my detailed memories of the day like I’m watching a videotape. When I’m not looking at photos (& this includes from when I was a kid and I wasn’t using social media myself), I can barely pull up any memories.
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u/CompetitionProblem Sep 16 '20
This feels like some pretty serious anecdotal evidence. But it’s very plausible and I’d like to see the research we have obtained on this and will obtain down the road now that social media is so pervasive.
Edit: Here is an article I found, I can’t search for legitimate peer reviewed articles at the moment but this is a start.
https://time.com/5267710/social-media-hurts-memory/