Ask HN: Would young people worry about unable to remember things?
By "young" I mean, before 30 or before married.
Are you guys over-confident about what you can remember? Do you think good memory is a powerful thing?
3 comments
So, wait - does getting married suddenly make you 'old'? =P
According to your description I count as young, and not being able to remember things bothers me a lot sometimes. I remember back before cell phones were commonplace, I could remember 3-4 phone numbers in my head (home, girlfriend, parents, local pizza places) - but now that I've become so reliant on my smartphone, I can only ever seem to remember my own number (and, I'll admit - the pizza place).
Does it bother me? Yeah. I talk to relatives (especially of the grand- variety) who are all "I can still remember every phone number I've ever had", and I get a little bit jealous. I help myself get over it by rationalizing that I have access to a lot more information a lot easier, now - so I don't need to remember as much of it.
Having a good memory is definitely a powerful thing - especially when you want to make a good second impression. So far though, 'take copious notes' has basically solved the "I wish my memory was better" problem.
According to your description I count as young, and not being able to remember things bothers me a lot sometimes. I remember back before cell phones were commonplace, I could remember 3-4 phone numbers in my head (home, girlfriend, parents, local pizza places) - but now that I've become so reliant on my smartphone, I can only ever seem to remember my own number (and, I'll admit - the pizza place).
Does it bother me? Yeah. I talk to relatives (especially of the grand- variety) who are all "I can still remember every phone number I've ever had", and I get a little bit jealous. I help myself get over it by rationalizing that I have access to a lot more information a lot easier, now - so I don't need to remember as much of it.
Having a good memory is definitely a powerful thing - especially when you want to make a good second impression. So far though, 'take copious notes' has basically solved the "I wish my memory was better" problem.
I assume this is a market-research type question. FYI, I'm 20+-3 years old.
Almost everything I need to know is available online. Knowing the speed of light is useful, but if I forget it google can remind me. Good memory is useful, but not nearly as useful as it was 30 years ago. There are also good tools online for memorising facts by brute force -- for example, I use Anki to learn formulae.
Regards the wetware brain, the only real issue I have is names. I can't remember them to save my life, and it'll be a few years before technology allows me to offload that function.
Almost everything I need to know is available online. Knowing the speed of light is useful, but if I forget it google can remind me. Good memory is useful, but not nearly as useful as it was 30 years ago. There are also good tools online for memorising facts by brute force -- for example, I use Anki to learn formulae.
Regards the wetware brain, the only real issue I have is names. I can't remember them to save my life, and it'll be a few years before technology allows me to offload that function.
I knew it, people are young and smart here. Another thing, I'm also trying to understand: How important is your past memory to you? Do you wish that everyday of your life should have something memorable? Or you'd rather look forward?