On March 10, one of my friends wished me a happy birthday. This would’ve been great! That is, if March 10 was my birthday. But my birthday is on March 12. When I asked him why, he swore up and down that my birthday was, indeed, the 10th. Of course, we then went into a light argument about when my birthday was, and I obviously ended up being right. However, this experience brought a small thought to mind: Why would someone who had remembered my birthday perfectly for a good few years just happen to misremember it this year? Why has my memory gotten worse, as well as the memories of the people around me?
It feels like everyone is forgetting everything nowadays. I’m not simply talking about forgetting what to put on your tests, but forgetting clubs, events, even class schedules, or misremembering, as my friend did with my birthday. It brings me more questions than answers, but I feel it to be true. Our memories are completely leaving us. I wanted to find answers, so I searched.
I’m sure a good number of Andover students are stressed, or at least have a lot to think about with all of their classes. There are many things that clutter our minds, to say the least. Additionally, a good amount of the students here scroll (mindlessly) on their phones. Sometimes I find myself guilty of doomscrolling too. We’re all human. Worst of all, many of us have poor sleep schedules. All three of these are actually key factors to memory loss. While this was fairly unsurprising to me, digging slightly deeper enlightened me about memory. As people get older, it isn’t age or reduced mental capacity that makes their memories worse; rather, there is so much already stored in the brain, storing more makes you forget other things. Using this logic, I can imagine that doomscrolling and actually absorbing the “brainrot” reduces your capacity to remember anything important. Getting to your period four class on time is probably more valuable than “Triple T.”
The point of this is what you’ll likely consider another lame reminder to take care of your health, and to sleep more, eat better, scroll less, but it is pretty serious. Something that would typically happen to a 75-year-old is happening to people 60 years earlier. It’s truly remarkable to think that the hectic lifestyles people have adopted nowadays have given us little benefit, given the treacherous consequences. Memory may not seem important now, but most people don’t even remember what they were doing a year ago on a broad scale. Seriously, how do you even forget the fact that you were in the chorus at your old school? Do you even remember why you stopped singing? Things like that are really funny in the moment, but are far more concerning below the surface.
But why would anyone willingly do this? Everyone is so vigorously informed on the downsides of scrolling and not sleeping. Really, I think people just find that they’ll survive anyway. People need to get their work done, but want to have fun too, which is understandable, yet many give up the time in which they should be resting. It also seems to be related to pressure. Every day, I know that many people may feel pressured to hang out with their friends just to feel valued by the group, or because they don’t want to be alone. It really is a big struggle to keep up with your own health these days, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that they genuinely need to do this if they want to maintain their memory or improve their overall well-being.
So, I would end this article with something along the lines of, “Remember, your memory is important, and you should try to take care of yourself because of that!” or something. But, honestly, considering the whole point of the article, I don’t think you will.
