...taking a photo undermines your memory
Aug 29, 2018 12:31:00 #
Aug 29, 2018 12:40:36 #
Linda From Maine wrote:
Thanks for posting this. As someone with a background in experimental psychology it will be interesting to see what the researchers were doing with this. ThanksMr Google knows all:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368117301687#!
Others that may be referencing the same study; I didn't read closely:
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/taking-photographs-does-something-extremely-weird-to-your-memory-and-no-one-knows-why/
https://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/reasons-psychologists-warn-not-to-take-so-many-photos.html/
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368117301687#!
Others that may be referencing the same study; I didn't read closely:
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/taking-photographs-does-something-extremely-weird-to-your-memory-and-no-one-knows-why/
https://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/reasons-psychologists-warn-not-to-take-so-many-photos.html/
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Aug 29, 2018 12:48:07 #
Photographer Jim wrote:
It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the full citation to the research article; this sounds intriguing. Without seeing the full research paper we’re not in a position to draw any conclusions from this very short snippet. Without info about defined terms, design and methodology, this little blurb is pretty useless.
Hahaha....you beat me too it.
Never let it be said that lack of facts will slow the 'hog opinion machine down! Full speed ahead!
Aug 29, 2018 12:53:47 #
I think this is probably true for snapshot takers who are engaged with he process of taking the picture more than experienced photographers who don't need to think so much about the camera and actually engage with the experience in order to take a good photograph.
Aug 29, 2018 13:06:00 #
Thanks Linda from Maine for your links. It looks like they are really thinking about people who take photos with phones, though obviously phone shots can be carefully set up. I think what they are saying might be right for people taking selfies in scenes, but this is something that I don't really think of as photography. Photographers tend to take in the landscape, various physical features, light, shadows, even smells and sounds (though they cannot necessarily be captured in the photos). I think I am much more involved in places where I am--with or without a camera--than I was before I returned to photography after many years. I can see a friend of mine just learning photography now comment on things I used to like: "look at those clouds and the way the light is falling...." But, I also have some pretty deep memories of places I have visited without a camera too. I suppose the problem with the study is it is attributing the results to the camera, whereas maybe it has more to do with who is behind the camera in specific circumstances.
Aug 29, 2018 13:11:41 #
Sounds right to me! Hopefully, Photographer Jim will read and analyze also. It would be fun to discuss the full study.
Selene03 wrote:
Thanks Linda from Maine for your links. ... maybe it has more to do with who is behind the camera in specific circumstances.
Aug 29, 2018 13:17:36 #
kjfishman wrote:
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Where do they find the time.
Aug 29, 2018 13:32:43 #
There is a similar thing about memory and literacy. Societies without reading and writing people have to memorize things. Such as the Norse Sagas which were often created by and memorized then spread by "Skalds", professional story tellers. These people had extraordinary memories and we still have people like them but instead of just being part of life we are astonished by people like that who memorize long passages or even whole books.
Aug 29, 2018 13:34:26 #
I play a game of computer chess each day, so the memory loss from taking photographs is canceled out by the memory gain playing chess. Then I play another game to cancel out the memory loss from drinking a margarita each day............
Aug 29, 2018 13:52:29 #
russelray wrote:
I play a game of computer chess each day, so the memory loss from taking photographs is canceled out by the memory gain playing chess. Then I play another game to cancel out the memory loss from drinking a margarita each day............
?????!!!!!????
Are you saying that drinking a margarita each day is not a way to combat memory loss caused spending too much time posting replies?!?!?!
I gotta change drinks!
Aug 29, 2018 13:53:46 #
Aug 29, 2018 14:02:09 #
What you folks in all your wisdom forget to realize is that when folks are living their 'experience' through their cameras they do not enjoy the fullness of the experience they are living or eventually die from not paying attention to what surrounds them - the ultimate loss of memories -. That is 99.99% of this over documented digital imagery world.
Debate all you want, if one is only concerned with taking 'good memory pictures' one is missing life. Unless I go somewhere on a job (not anymore) or trying to challenge myself to learn something new a camera is not my 'go to' to 'create memories'.
So....
robertjerl, you are absolutely right as far as memory need goes when there is no method to record. Now if you read many threads here (and other places) a constant issue is 'WHERE IS MY (photo) STUFF???'...
Debate all you want, if one is only concerned with taking 'good memory pictures' one is missing life. Unless I go somewhere on a job (not anymore) or trying to challenge myself to learn something new a camera is not my 'go to' to 'create memories'.
So....
robertjerl, you are absolutely right as far as memory need goes when there is no method to record. Now if you read many threads here (and other places) a constant issue is 'WHERE IS MY (photo) STUFF???'...
Aug 29, 2018 14:18:02 #
Rongnongno wrote:
What you folks in all your wisdom forget to realiz... (show quote)
If I am rushed I will take photos on the spur of the moment. If not rushed I will often just observe either before I shoot or after. If it is a subject I have photographed before, often many times, I may just watch and enjoy without bothering to take photos unless something unusual happens or a great opportunity (bird, butterfly etc landing very close-once had a nice little skipper that kept landing on my lens hood or my knee as I sat in a lawn chair to photograph butterflies on potted plants-that is too close, I needed another body with macro lens and didn't have it-went in and got a camera with 180macro and the little brat landed on the camera itself
)Aug 29, 2018 15:42:32 #
I used to carry my camera everywhere, taking photos, trying to get the "perfect shot". I got tired of "seeing the world through the camera lens" and put it down, and began experiencing life again.
Aug 29, 2018 15:54:27 #
mwsilvers
Loc: Central New Jersey
kjfishman wrote:
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Since I often spent considerable time composing before I shoot, I'm looking at things more intently than a casual viewer might, and probably retain more rather than less memories of what I shoot as a result.
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