Hi everyone! Today I want to talk about something that comes to my mind every now and then and something that affects all our lives. That point is our fast lives and how it affects our memories. Let’s start.
In modern life, things are too fast. Something happens all the time everyone’s lives and we learn about everything about what happens in other people’s lives very fast. This has several consequences. One is that we forget ourselves. The second is that we forget everything. So, we forget.
The reason that I started thinking about this is because someone once told me how strong people’s memories were before as compared to today. They could memorize pages and pages and recite all. I even heard people memorizing many books. In fact, even I used to memorize things when I was a kid. I used to recite many things from my head in front of many people by heart. Now, I cannot do it as easily. Part of it is that I became an adult so my brain is possibly slower in processing stuff. But the bigger part is that it is occupied by too many things.
When I was a kid, I always was able to focus on that piece I was memorizing so I could do it well. Now, when I need to do such a thing, I think more like ‘I need to get this out of the way so I can do x, y, z’. Plus, I think of how I will look if I don’t do well. So, when I am trying to memorize or understand, in fact my mind is busy with many other things.
Humans probably always have this tendency to think about multiple things at the same time because we are not satisfied with things. But modern life style has increased the number of things that we (need to) think about greatly. For example, as a researcher, I not only have to think about my research, but also my classes as a student, my teaching in addition to the must-have my family and friends and also many other more trivial stuff that happens everyday. In the ideal situation, a person should have one task, say research, and that is it. But we not only have these many tasks, but we also have the additional stress factors that did not exist before, at least not to this extent. If we try to keep up with everything that is going on, we will definitely be lost. Our mind will just lose its balance in the midst of all that chaos. It will be occupied with things it should not be.
What can we do to help gain our good, strong memories back? I think the solution is to slow things down. That way, our minds will be able to focus again. One way to do this is to allow ourselves time to calm our minds via meditation, nature walks etc. That is, making it a daily habit to take things slow. Another way is to make some sacrifices and take some things out of our lives. We don’t have to do everything. We can’t do everything. But we realize this fact only when we start not doing some things. My curious nature was making me try to investigate every linguistic point I found interesting. Well, when I started not doing that, I noticed that I actually did not have to research everything in the first place. I was just trying to do what was beyond me.
So now, I try to take things slower. Now I know that I don’t have to catch up with everything. Nor do I have to do or have everything. I hope that this will help improve my memory.
Do you think our memories are weaker now compared to previous generations? Do you think it is related to the pace of life? Any other solutions to strengthen our memories? Let’s chat.
I completely agree, we need to slow down, especially our thinking. we are constantly making ourselves crazy with all the stuff we expect our brain to handle, phones, computers, conversations, our own thoughts, worries, expectations, sounds around us……..we are bombarded with stimulation. Meditation and spending time in nature allows are brains to feel free! great post.
Thank you for sharing your take on this! Obviously, I agree with everything you say!
May your day be blessed with many smiles. 🙂
Yours too!
🙂 thank you so very much 🙂
I’ve always had a really good memory and, thankfully , age doesn’t appear to have dimmed it, but you never know………….
Really good for you!
This is so true of all of us in this day and age.
In addition to our tendency for overdoing and multitasking our dependence on electronic devices is also responsible for the pathetic state of our memory.
We don’t try to remember the phone numbers of our family since we have them in our cell phones. If we need to remember anything at all we take a picture of it with any of our digital devices.
Our memory “muscles” have gone into disuse atrophy.
Great post !
A lot of food for thought
That is a nice point, the point about phone numbers and so true! It is a lot of food for thought really!
So true. I don’t have any numbers memorized because I let my phone do all the work. And I take pictures of things so I don’t have to remember them. It’s a great use of one tool at the expense of my greatest tool: my brain!
True!
Very aptly said. You are right in today’s competitive world we don’t have time to sit and stare at our surrounding or spend some quality time with our loved ones
True, unfortunately!
As a child and as a young adult, I could memorise many things because I kind of didn’t know myself or my preference or my predilections (so spongy! 😬)
Because of life experiences and knowing myself so much better now, I seldom have the need to “memorise” anything that comes naturally to me (phew)
For me, it has been a process of elimination and unlearning so that my mind can be filled with the things that excite me and help me grow in the direction I choose 😊
That is an interesting point of view too! We definitely benefit from experience and we learn ourselves in time.
Absolutely! If you asked the majority of people what they have done during the day I bet that a large proportion could only remember half of it, We haven’t evolved a mechanism to take in and process the huge wealth of information we can take in these days and so we have started to “skim read” our way through life relying on devices to remember things for us, increasingly it is becoming obvious that for many reasons, a break from the world is a good thing to just unplug for a day, or even an hour and let our minds rest and process the backlog of information, awesome post!
Very well-said! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I am agree, we need to slow down.
Very good post, I love it❤️
Thank you!😊
This is a great article. Stress and too many things to do will effect our memory. Things tend to slip my mind easily when I have a lot going on.
Exactly!
Very well said 👍
Thank you!
You are welcome 👍😊
Great post! A good reminder to slow down. I’ve become more conscious of this recently because I try to ingest so many different teachings and ideas into one day, that I don’t take the time to just sit with one idea and really absorb it. I speed learn one thing so I can speed learn the next and the next…
Thank you for the reminder!
That happens to me a lot too!
Reblogged this on Salted Caramel and commented:
This is such a great post on the sad state of our memory in this day and age. Multi tasking and over scheduling are responsible as Betul Erbasi discusses here:
Thank you for the reblog!
You are most welcome. 🎀
I’m not entirely sure if human memories aren’t as capable now as then, I suspect it’s more that modern human brains are chock full of so much it’s harder to access that ability. You see those memes about how “my brain has 35 open tabs and can’t figure out where that music is coming from” or whatever, that is our modern reality.
Slowing down is key!
Occasionally disconnecting from our own brains is a benefit most of us don’t utilize enough.
Wonderful post! Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words! Yes, our brains are the same, but we use them badly now exactly for the reasons you said.
Also I like that meme!
Great post. My memory is awful and I’ve attributed it to always being in a hurry and never slowing down. As I’ve gotten older, I’m getting better at this, but when my kids were young, my life flew by and now I realize the importance of slowing down and enjoying the moment.
I guess with the excitement of our youth, we feel like we can do everything! But in time, we all learn that we cannot. Thanks for sharing your view!
Great points, sometimes we have to remember we can’t do it all. In todays world slowing down is almost impossible, therefore we must actively approach this concept. Thanks for your blog post!
Yes! Thanks for your comment!
Yeah. I’m not sure if it’s because of my habit or anything but sometimes I may suddenly lose my train of thought while focusing on something… Or required a double take to process an information. I am quite concerned
While it seems like we don’t memorize all things, I figure our brain still can use some exercise so that we won’t be quickly forgetful…
That happens to me as well, I think it is still a product of these busy times. And indeed, those activities could be helpful but if they are made a part of daily.
I can relate that as kids we used to memorize lot of information even the things that don’t matter, so probably the age is one of the factors, the stress, the life problems…Not only the fast pace I guess…
We should practice our memory and try to memorize things that matter and are helpful for us, always read and learn something new probably…and drop the information that don’t matter so we can make space to other things I guess
Thank you for sharing this important topic
Yes, these are important points as well! There is probably not one reason and all you say are also effective. The goal is to minimize the things we do not need, as you said.
👍👍
It’s interesting that you wrote a blog on this topic because I was just thinking about doing something similar. My next blog, though, will be a critique of cars and the culture of cars. If our bodies and minds are connected, then as our bodies go so goes our minds. When we race around in automobiles, we encourage a racing mind. To slow our minds down, we have to slow our bodies down. I will do a blog that will compliment yours and I will link to this one. Take care.
This is an interesting coincidence! I will look forward to reading your post!
I agree with you! Slow things down!
Let’s!
Yes, our memories are much weaker than the past generations. I am not sure if it is because of the pace of life or technology. I have stopped using the GPS, I have stopped taking grocery lists (rely on mnemonics) in order to keep my memory sharp.
These are nice techniques! As for the reason, the pace is probably one of the reasons and there are other likely reasons as well.
Yes we definitely need to slow down, not think all the time, reconnect with nature and ourselves… just be. I think this is a great place to start with improving our memories. Disconnect from screens and always being ‘on call’. Great post – thank you!
These are so true! Yes, we need to connect!
More than anything else, we simply demand less from our memories, slowly giving away capacity.
That is true! Nice point!
The best ways for me is to write in my diary and blog. This keeps the brain healthy and allows for focus.
Nice ways! Blogging helps me too!