Memories that matter
Smart brains versus smartphones and Facebook
This has been a good week. I have read not one, not two, but three facts (that I do not believe are alternative facts) that have boosted my spirits no end.
First of all, I don’t want to brag, but you people have no idea how intelligent I am. Not only am I so intelligent that it scares me, but I am getting more intelligent all the time!
You don’t believe me? Ha! What if I said you too may be smarter than you think? Then you’ll stop sneering I bet.
Researchers from the University of Toronto propose that the goal of memory is not to retain and recall information but to hold onto important information. Smart brains do not waste memory space on trivialities. Of course, a skeptic would point out that that the level of importance of any information is subjective, Smart brains do not waste memory space on trivialities.
ergo I might not be as smart as I think I am. (I’m trying now to remember something of importance that I’ve ever forgotten, but I can’t, because of course, that is not important).
However, one part of this report worries me a bit. They opine that technology having changed what we need to remember on a regular basis is a good thing.
“With a smartphone in your hand, you can easily look up simple facts or even phone numbers.
Since our brains no longer have to store these small details, they can focus on memories that matter.”
That reminds me of a salesperson I had once who had to take out her calculator to figure out the cost of a $12 item, with a third off. How can our brains improve if we don’t even know the basics to begin with? On the other hand, you can’t forget something you never knew.
Anyway, I’m intelligent enough to know when to stop blithering and move on.
The second good thing I read is that talking to yourself is normal. I could say that I might be the most normal person I know, but I don’t know how much other people talk to themselves for obvious reasons.
Talking to yourself can be in your mind or out loud. It can be a sign of a mental illness, but the majority of people who talk to themselves do not have a mental illness. It’s probably the stigma of talking to yourself that has precipitated so much research on the subject, yet all the research shows that it is not only quite normal, it is also good for you in scads of ways.
I hope the fellow who saw me talking to myself on Confederation Hill a few years ago reads this. It was a demonstration of some sort (I don’t remember what; it isn’t important) and I had been asked by a reporter if I would give a comment a little later on. So, there I was, going over in my mind what I was going to say. Doesn’t this guy pass by, lean in and make a crack about me talking to myself. I don’t remember what he said because it wasn’t important. I remember the incident because it taught me an important lesson: do not move your lips when talking to yourself in public.
The third happy-making fact I read this week is that drinking gin will help prevent winter colds and asthma attacks. I already knew this, in fact I wrote about it, but then I forgot, not because it isn’t important information, but as I’m going to be drinking gin anyway, my memory decided it didn’t need to waste space remembering the medicinal qualities.
So, there you go; Facebook told me all of these things in less than a week. I don’t know why I get these posts. Maybe the Facebook people feel sorry for me because I don’t have many friends. I don’t know half the ones I do have.
But I have some good ones. You wouldn’t believe how many people shared that gin fact with me. Just in time, too, she said to herself as she tried to remember where she put the tissues.