Instagram Advice
Photo via Stitchgram
If you’re over 30 or so, you at least vaguely remember the days when you had to do a quick cost-benefit analysis before hitting the shutter button on your camera. When there was actual film inside, it cost real money to get those photos developed!
Millennials, though, may be hard pressed to recall the pre-selfie, pre-digital days, when we weren’t compelled to snap hundreds of photos per minute to capture a single shareworthy shot of your BFF’s smile.
It may seem like there’s no downside to our digital photo addiction, beyond just filling up your iPhone’s memory, but that’s not actually true, says Dr. Linda Henkel, a cognitive psychologist at Fairfield University.
Henkel worked on a study commissioned by the photo site Shutterfly and found what she terms the “photo-taking-impairment effect.”
When we constantly outsource our brains to digital cameras to record a moment, we end up remembering less. The muscles for cognitively processing memory in a moment, weaken as we rely on digital equipment outside of our own brain power, to do the work to create them.
In other words, the more you click, the less your brain actually absorbs the experience. It seems intuitive, but Henkel argues the research shows this isn’t just a myth.
Fortunately, Henkel’s study goes on to share how to develop lasting memories and without having to leave your camera at home. The key is to revisit the images, and not just let them languish on a hard drive.
"Photos can be effective memory cues, but they only work if you revisit them. Shutterfly’s research shows that people are taking huge amounts of photos but our revisiting behavior isn’t scaling with our snapping behavior," says Henkel.
"The key to remembering more is revisiting and sharing our photos. Looking back at a photo helps to reactivate and consolidate the memory, making it more accessible later and training the brain to remember the story behind the picture," Henkel says.
Her advice may seem straightforward, but it’s harder and harder to do as we snap ever more photos.
"Americans now take more than 10.3 billion photos every month," Henkel notes. So here are a few ideas for how to turn photos into part of your daily life. They’ll not only turn heads and start conversations, they’ll also help you remember the special moment that prompted you to open the camera app on your iPhone in the first place.
Photo via Think Crafts / Dried Figs and Wooden Spools
Photo via Better Homes and Gardens
Glass Container Photo Display
Photo via Better Homes and Gardens
Photo via Better Homes and Gardens
Photo via Better Homes and Gardens
Photo via Stitchgram
Photo via Stitchgram
A photo’s story best comes to life when it is shared personally. Meaning is derived when we talk about a photo while looking at it, verbally sharing and retelling the story of the moment with our family and friends. Maybe some of these projects here can guarantee that meaning is not lost in your thousands upon thousands of images.
