Hello Everyone!
Thomas typing here, an entire year older than I was in previous post. I had a fun birthday which included my parents dropping off an entire Stock’s birthday cake. Wow. :)
For those unaware of the unmitigated pleasure of Stock’s Bakery: https://www.phillyvoice.com/bad-you-stocks-birthday-cake/
Try to nab yourself a slice sometime.
Moving on! Continuing in the vein of the “How Will ME.mory Help”-posts, the focus of today’s post is on how ME.mory can help want-based users.
First, let’s define this population.
I have historically used the term “want-based” to describe ME.mory’s use by people who do not have any recognized memory disability or a condition associated with having a worse memory than typical, including people considered neurotypical.
This population may not feel it needs memory strategies or technologies to compensate for their typical episodic memory obligations/responsibilities. However, seeing as all people use records and ways of documenting to keep track of life we have found that they are indeed using ME.mory too.
Memory loss is universal. No person asks to have a worse memory. We would all prefer to be able to remember more, to be better able to keep track of what has been happening within our lives, to live with fewer faulty assumptions about ourselves when we can know more of the truth instead.
My standard answer when it comes to anyone who claims that ME.mory is a tool for people with memory loss?
Me: “Yeah. You.”
Consider how often any of us now will look back over text messages, emails, social media posts, websites, photos — any of the many forms of recording events for posterity’s sake.
Some of this use may be for idle reflection, but more could be for us to learn about ourselves in ways we have not been able to otherwise. We could grow to appreciate ourselves and to challenge ourselves.
For example, a man may feel embarrassed because he does not advocate for himself professionally. However, he believes his lack of self-advocacy is not such a big deal. He feels that it mostly bothers him personally rather than that it is altering his career trajectory, and so thinks he may just have to learn to live with it.
In this way it can become easy for anyone to not see the forest for the trees.
His colleagues have a very different sense of him than he has of himself. They feel he lacks ambition. They know he is willing to do enough to complete his job, but not more.
When he is passed over for yet another promotion, he decides to search his ME.mory for hints as to why he seems stuck in his current role. He types “meeting” into the search bar and then the results come in. At that moment he rapidly compares the entries with “meeting” in them, noticing how often he wrote about thoughts which he ultimately did not share with his colleagues.
It is time for him to change, time for him to realize his drive and focus. He resolves to do so. Soon after his coworkers come to expect from him just what he has made clear he expects from himself now.
Finally. This is an example of how ME.mory can improve the quality of life for someone unaware of how a rapid ability to reflect can lead to major change.
We intend for what we share on social media to be seen by others. It has been time for us to also realize our wants regarding what we may only want ourselves to see.
Are you a want-based user, someone having challenged their expectations for themselves? We want to hear from you. We welcome your feedback and suggestions on how ME.mory may be better able to assist.
Alright! See you next time.
