Psychologically imprinted
Between a tangible yet permanent version of memory and The Decay theory.
Everywhere I go, I always keep my phone in my hand so I can easily take a photo or record the scene flashed in front of my eyes. I did it only if I feel the need to do it. It only takes a picture or two to keep it in my gallery.
It feels so therapeutic. By taking a photo, it feels like I can relive certain memories through the photos or videos I took. It’s such a precious way to outlive a memory.
Everyone do the same thing, every generation. Even an old couple at the park, they also take a photo with their loved ones. The euphoria you felt of having a permanent version of memories is like you forever live in every scene that ever crossed in your life, even if it just happen in a blink of an eye.
I remember that there’s a TikTok sound that was voiced by Emma Chamberlain and it started with, “Why do we feel the need to take photos?” with Cardigan by Taylor Swift played in the background. I’m sure a lot of people knew the sound, cause it’s been everywhere on TikTok. Every time I listen to it, I couldn’t agree more.
For certain people, the idea of taking a photo or video is a mere, boring activity. Sometimes, they also called it as something that’s too much to do. I’m just wondering, which part of keeping a memory that was too much?
Talk about keeping a memory, what really touch my heart is when there’s a parent who neatly archived their children’s childhood memories in an old album or keep it in a camera. Definitely, it will be something I would do. As a melancholic person, it would be a lot easier for me to reminisce something.
On top of that, I don’t think taking a photo or video is a boring activity. It’s the same thing as to help the way our memory works by capturing the scene, so we can have the permanent version of it. Some people should know that there’s a lot of us who don’t have a great capacity to keep a memory in any forms.
Despite of having a great capacity in recalling something, I’m still scared to lose certain memories because I believe that every memory I experienced — including every person and occurrence in it, are still alive in some way. Having this way of thinking, no wonder I saw some people were crying while looking over their album or old photos. My assumption, they might think that a part of them are still alive in there.
This way of thinking also lead me to one of the theory in psychology, called The Decay Theory.
The Decay Theory
According to one of the journal articles in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, entitled “In search of decay in verbal short-term memory” (2009), this theory tells that memory fades due to the mere passage of time. As time passes, the information will be less available. Also memory, as well as memory strength, wears away.
By rehearsing information, is believed to be a major factor to counteract the temporal decline. Not only that, it’s also believed that neurons from memory trace die off gradually as we age. Meanwhile, some older memories can be stronger than most recent memories.
So, The Decay Theory mostly affects the short term memory system. Which means, the older memories in long term memory are often more resistant to shocks or if it gets a physical attacks on the brain. I hope these explanations that I found in some research are enough to understand.
I’m so relieved by knowing that the older memories are more resistant than the most recent ones. Not a few of us leave a trace somewhere in the past just to keep the memory alive. I don’t think some memories can be just vanished, not after all we’ve been through only to get that experience.
I left a trace in every chapter of my life. Every person, scene, and occurrence that happened in my old memories were perfectly stored somewhere in my mind. Day by day, it will convince me that I was really there.
Every time I passed some random street or building that I used to cross, certain memory just flashed out of nowhere in front of my eyes. It just happened, naturally. Question started to wander around my head, did I subconsciously rehearse my memories pretty well? Or is it just me who’s so afraid of losing a memory — to be precise, certain memories?
It’s matter to keep memories while it lasts.
