This has probably happened to you: You or your spouse or significant other left the house for the supermarket. You got six minutes down the road and remembered, “Dang, I forgot the grocery list.” You may have even gotten all the way to the store, picked out a cart that didn’t have wobbly wheels and begun pushing it before you realized the list was still back on the kitchen counter where you left it.
Eons ago, you had to reconstruct that list from your memory to the best of your ability. You came home with less than expected, but the items significantly lodged in your memory – those weekly constants – were in the brown bags. No more.
With today’s memory slippage, lack of attention spans and general not following through on things we start, forgetting the shopping list happens more frequently than it did 25-40 years ago. We start doing something and another chore intervenes. Suddenly we are out the door, in our cars, down the road, and think, “Ooops.”
That’s, of course, where the smart phone comes into play. It has become our memory retainer, from email addresses and phone numbers to photos and shopping lists.
You don’t need to remember because it remembers for you. And I think that helps cause a large part of our forgetting. Because we are not focused, we allow things to slip away. “Eh, who cares? I can always call someone at home and get it.”
That’s not a conscious thought. At the same time, when you have several incidents of getting somewhere and realizing you left something necessary at home, and know you can push ten numbers to get an answer and the information you want, then subconsciously you stop focusing as intently.
This has taken on new dynamics as phones have increased the number of functions available. For example, the most useful change the past five years or so is the ability to take a photo and text it to someone.
Take the lost shopping list. If you get to the supermarket, what’s the easiest way to recapture everything on your handwritten note? Call home and have someone take a photo of it, then text it to you. It’s so much easier to admit your forgetfulness when it is so easy to correct.
That’s a major reason you see so many people with phones to their ears or in front of their faces as they wander down the frozen food aisle looking for Stouffer’s fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. When the shopper can’t find it, and before he gets too frustrated, he can take a photo, send it to his wife at home, who then texts back, “It’s not Stouffer’s. It’s Swanson’s. It’s in the blue box, not the red one, two spaces over.”
How did we survive 15 years ago? We wrote notes, sure, but then we had to actually remember to tuck them in our wallets or put them in our purses and bring them with us when we left the house.
Forgetfulness could be a good thing, particularly when it comes to food we buy. Having to use our memory rather than a smart phone image cuts our consumption. In an overweight nation, that’s the silver lining when leaving the grocery list next to coffee pot.
And, if you have to reconstruct it from memory, maybe the French Vanilla ice cream, Cocoa Puffs and barbecue potato chips will be what we forget, and fresh broccoli, pears and Brussels sprouts will be what we remember to buy. Oh wait, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Better put your smart phone in your pocket now or your waist line is in big trouble.
Eons ago, you had to reconstruct that list from your memory to the best of your ability. You came home with less than expected, but the items significantly lodged in your memory – those weekly constants – were in the brown bags. No more.
With today’s memory slippage, lack of attention spans and general not following through on things we start, forgetting the shopping list happens more frequently than it did 25-40 years ago. We start doing something and another chore intervenes. Suddenly we are out the door, in our cars, down the road, and think, “Ooops.”
That’s, of course, where the smart phone comes into play. It has become our memory retainer, from email addresses and phone numbers to photos and shopping lists.
You don’t need to remember because it remembers for you. And I think that helps cause a large part of our forgetting. Because we are not focused, we allow things to slip away. “Eh, who cares? I can always call someone at home and get it.”
That’s not a conscious thought. At the same time, when you have several incidents of getting somewhere and realizing you left something necessary at home, and know you can push ten numbers to get an answer and the information you want, then subconsciously you stop focusing as intently.
This has taken on new dynamics as phones have increased the number of functions available. For example, the most useful change the past five years or so is the ability to take a photo and text it to someone.
Take the lost shopping list. If you get to the supermarket, what’s the easiest way to recapture everything on your handwritten note? Call home and have someone take a photo of it, then text it to you. It’s so much easier to admit your forgetfulness when it is so easy to correct.
That’s a major reason you see so many people with phones to their ears or in front of their faces as they wander down the frozen food aisle looking for Stouffer’s fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. When the shopper can’t find it, and before he gets too frustrated, he can take a photo, send it to his wife at home, who then texts back, “It’s not Stouffer’s. It’s Swanson’s. It’s in the blue box, not the red one, two spaces over.”
How did we survive 15 years ago? We wrote notes, sure, but then we had to actually remember to tuck them in our wallets or put them in our purses and bring them with us when we left the house.
Forgetfulness could be a good thing, particularly when it comes to food we buy. Having to use our memory rather than a smart phone image cuts our consumption. In an overweight nation, that’s the silver lining when leaving the grocery list next to coffee pot.
And, if you have to reconstruct it from memory, maybe the French Vanilla ice cream, Cocoa Puffs and barbecue potato chips will be what we forget, and fresh broccoli, pears and Brussels sprouts will be what we remember to buy. Oh wait, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Better put your smart phone in your pocket now or your waist line is in big trouble.