Reminiscing with family over the holidays evoked myriad thoughts, stories, and emotions. I found it interesting how we each remembered different things. Or sometimes we remembered the same thing in our own distinct way. This perhaps signified the strength of the experience driving the memory. Sometimes, one of us recalled a memory that was unique, something that nobody else remembered.
In today’s world of instant photos, videos, and access to any information, does that diminish the value of our memories? Do we still need so much brain power to memorize and create memories, knowing we can obtain answers so easily? Or maybe it’s that we’re so busy capturing moments on our devices that we process the memories differently now. In any case, I’ve certainly noticed that I don’t retain information as easily. I know some of this is because I’m ageing, but I’m distracted by my devices. Whatever the reason, it did raise some interesting questions for me about our memories, what we’re actually internalizing, and what we really need to spend our time memorizing.
In school it was common for us to have closed book exams. Memorizing vast amounts of information was a requirement. Even in grad school our hands cramped up from handwriting everything we studied into small blue-covered booklets with wide-lined paper inside. No books, or resources, allowed, most of the time. Of course back then we only had “dumb” phones, so accessing information wasn’t quite as easy. But it still didn’t reflect reality. Even now at my new job, doing new things, if I don’t know something I can either look it up or ask someone. There’s no need for me to spend time memorizing facts and details, though remembering the many new acronyms can be pretty useful.
During the holiday week, I also read an article about doctors working with and competing against ChatGPT to see which group fared better in diagnoses. ChatGPT won, though that doesn’t seem surprising to me. But again, it raised this question of the usefulness to memorize so much information when resources are readily available. Then again, my father raised me to believe the only thing we ever really own in this world is what’s inside our heads. I guess we all have to find a balance to expend energy with the things we need to remember most.