The Things You Don’t Know That You Forget BY SOULAIMA GOURANI
As a person, I am always curious to know how I can perform better, enjoy further, and learn more. I am driven by it. I have many maxims, challenge myself regularly, and allow myself to be challenged by the people I meet. The other day, one of my colleagues really gave me something to think about.
Flaccid Brain I have a driver to take me to my appointments on the very long days. I have noticed that he never writes anything down when we make plans for the following week. He just listens. We agree on pickups, routes, times for when to be at a certain location, etc. I am sitting there frantically flicking through the pages of my calendar, while he just sits there quietly and does nothing but listen. He is always on time and never takes the wrong way. I am impressed! One day, I asked him why he doesn’t take notes so that he wouldn’t have to remember it all in his head. I think that it is practical to write stuff down in order to get it out of my head. I thought that I was doing myself a favor by not keeping everything in my head. He just smiled and said, “Well, I actually want to remember it. But if I write it down, my brain becomes flaccid and slow, and over time, I will end up forgetting things—and I don’t want that to happen.” That gave me something to think about! A flaccid brain—who would want that? I started thinking about all the information that I store on my phone: the events in my calendar and everything that actually means that I don’t remember anything or, perhaps more correctly, that I don’t forget anything—or is it the other way around? As a matter of fact, my driver actually made me wonder if I was doing my brain a favor or a disservice! It feels great not forcing the brain to remember anything by storing all the information on a smartphone because I feel more relaxed when I don’t have to remember a lot of small details. Unfortunately, I have to accept the fact that today I, more or less, only remember my grandmother’s phone number (and she died many years ago), my mother’s old number, and my best friend’s digits in my head. All other phone numbers are stored in the mobile phone. It’s quite surprising to realize how few numbers I can remember in my head. I Think It Is “Important” to Take Notes I attended many meetings when I worked for Maersk Data and, later on, Hewlett-Packard (it is not unusual for big organizations to have many meetings). At these meetings, the participants were expected to take notes—even if they did not look at the notes again after a meeting was finished. In many companies, it is perceived as being disrespectful not to take notes, especially to the colleagues hosting the meeting. You are sending an indirect signal that nothing on the agenda is important enough that you need to “remember” the meeting later on. It Starts with Phone Numbers However, it is not only phone numbers that I no longer store in my head. The same is true with names, passwords, the kids’ social security numbers, addresses, routes, shopping lists, and so on. Just to dwell on the issue about addresses and finding one’s way—it is “funny” that the number of accidents on the roads are increasing together with the mainstream adoption of GPS equipment. Perhaps we should consider starting to think rather than just trusting the navigation console 100 percent.
We hand over the responsibility to the GPS. GPS equipment involves the risk of drivers handing over a greater part of the responsibility to the technology rather than adjusting their driving to the actual conditions on the road—we stop thinking! Crazy!
I Don’t Think That We Are Bad at Remembering Nowadays, it is often debated that people (even young people) are too forgetful. It is actually a paradox because we have never had so many tools to support our memory. Young people, in particular, are becoming more and more “stupid” because they use the mobile phone (like I do) to remember phone numbers and appointments, and we use GPS to find our way. I don’t really think that we physically have become worse at remembering things. The problem is probably that we don’t realize what is going on around us because we are buried in our mobile phones (experts say between seven and seventeen hours a day). We focus on things other than remembering. We forget to look around, listen properly, and be attentive—we forget to be present. Companies’ GPS: A Detour? Do we also allow ourselves to be controlled by “the electronic GPS” in other aspects of our life at home and on the job? Do we hide behind fancy (and expensive) systems that are supposed to make life easier for us? Does it result in our forgetting to pay attention to the actual “road conditions”? As an example of a “company GPS,” I can mention business intelligence (BI) systems that turn data into something that you can base your decisions on. These systems collect and combine data from many databases and systems, and a BI system can be really good and useful. I actually used to sell such systems to companies. Most of the companies that I am involved in as an adviser utilize these complex monitoring systems in their organizations. Management looks at and makes decisions based on reports, analyses, and dashboards, and that should be okay as far as I can see. But can this decision-making practice substitute for walking around in the organization and talking with real people or, for that matter, customers? Well, I guess that all I am trying to say is that perhaps technology should stand aside at times and make room for one’s common sense! Mentally Toothless! If you read the latest within brain research (for example, the work of psychologist David Walsh, PhD), you will discover new terms such as digital Alzheimer’s, which basically means that we are becoming “demented” because we use a lot of tools for remembering things. We have to look at how we can avoid becoming mentally toothless so that we can remember more things without the use of support tools. Give your head and your memory a chance. We have an excellent ability to remember things if only we practice. Just think about the good old days where you stored many phone numbers in your head. Study the map and plan your route before you switch on the GPS. It is okay to use digital aids—just don’t do it all the time. I have a friend who is more than seventy-five years old. He just started studying Spanish. I asked him why he did that. Why not just enjoy utilizing the skills he already has—why go through the hassle of learning a new language? He laughed and said that studying Spanish helps keep the mind and body in good shape. Numerous studies over the years show that memory weakens with age—this also goes for people in good health. However, recently, a Swedish study indicated that memory could continue to improve even into the late sixties, so there is no excuse—just get started. Remember Something Every Day Not only will you get your brain back in great shape—you will also be able to remember jokes, quotes, book titles, names, synonyms, and the names of the delicious wines that you enjoyed during
your vacation (all those things that you today keep as notes on your smartphone). I find it very fascinating to meet people who have something clever to say without having to consult their mobile phone first. So maybe, for more than one reason, we should try to leave the smartphone at home occasionally, and maybe we should let it stay in our pockets when we are with other people to allow us to really experience the situation and remember what people are saying and doing. And maybe we shouldn’t take pictures of everything—maybe we should try to just store the image mentally sometimes. And to you who are not slaves of the mobile phone like the rest of us, continue to do crosswords, sudoku, and all those games that are good for the memory! You can get started right away: http://www.websudoku.com/.
Good luck remembering the things you forget—or is it the other way around?