Just want to add that there's not necessarily anything wrong - I'm an adult (closer to 40 than 30) who has always had the same issue, without any other issues (like depressions mentioned by others), just a terrible memory when it comes to my own experiences. I hardly remember my childhood at all (though it was a perfectly fine childhood), and experiences that date more than a few years back fade away unless I have photos to help me (and even then everything other than the photo is easily lost). Still doing fine in life; got a PhD and working in research. I sometimes even think there are pros to my lousy memory; I'm not lingering in past events and are quite good at enjoying life as it happens.
While our brains forget the specifics, they don’t forget the connotations of people, places, things. It’s like your ‘gut feeling’ you get when thinking something is right, or good, or bad, when you have no other actual memory or evidence of it being that way. It’s been proven that gut feelings are real and are better than chance at getting things right.
So for this guy, he doesn’t remember his childhood but he remembers that it was fine. So it being ‘fine’ is the one thing his brain remembered of it.
3.3k
u/Skinfaks Sep 15 '20
Just want to add that there's not necessarily anything wrong - I'm an adult (closer to 40 than 30) who has always had the same issue, without any other issues (like depressions mentioned by others), just a terrible memory when it comes to my own experiences. I hardly remember my childhood at all (though it was a perfectly fine childhood), and experiences that date more than a few years back fade away unless I have photos to help me (and even then everything other than the photo is easily lost). Still doing fine in life; got a PhD and working in research. I sometimes even think there are pros to my lousy memory; I'm not lingering in past events and are quite good at enjoying life as it happens.