I think about how my kids' memories are being formed, and how our own memories of them are gonna be so different from our parents' memories of us.
Remember when you were a kid and your mom came across a baby picture of you and was like "aww look how cute you were!"
We have that experience all the time now, with Facebook "memories" or even scrolling to the bottom of our instagram feeds. There's not much "aww, I forgot about that time you stuck your face in the cake at your 1st birthday!" We have it all on video and we've seen it enough that it's not even cute anymore. Ok, it's still cute to me, but I don't need to share it -- nobody else cares.
Our kids are seeing pics and videos of themselves right after they ate the cake, pet the llama, rode the coaster. Will they have stronger memories of those times because they've seen them right after they've done them? I think most of my memories from childhood are formed by photos, videos, or old stories that were told to me. Like, I'm not sure if I remember when my sister and I insisted on sweat socks to my cousin Susan's bat mitzvah, or if I just remember seeing this picture of it:
Remember when you were a kid and your mom came across a baby picture of you and was like "aww look how cute you were!"
We have that experience all the time now, with Facebook "memories" or even scrolling to the bottom of our instagram feeds. There's not much "aww, I forgot about that time you stuck your face in the cake at your 1st birthday!" We have it all on video and we've seen it enough that it's not even cute anymore. Ok, it's still cute to me, but I don't need to share it -- nobody else cares.
Our kids are seeing pics and videos of themselves right after they ate the cake, pet the llama, rode the coaster. Will they have stronger memories of those times because they've seen them right after they've done them? I think most of my memories from childhood are formed by photos, videos, or old stories that were told to me. Like, I'm not sure if I remember when my sister and I insisted on sweat socks to my cousin Susan's bat mitzvah, or if I just remember seeing this picture of it:
This look is actually pretty hip right now.
I definitely don't remember the torah portion (sorry Susan, I know you worked hard on that), but I think I remember the memory of seeing the photo as a kid.
Will our kids have even stronger memories when they look at our FB or Instagram pages after we've posted them?
Will they think they had an impossibly amazing childhood because they won't have memories of all the pics we don't post? Not to mention the incidents we don't record at all...?
Or maybe their memories will be so diluted because there are so many photos and videos, they won't remember every incident even if it was recorded. Maybe they'll mainly remember the feelings they had, just like we did.
Pro tip: Try to avoid showing your kids pics or video of themselves right after you record them. Otherwise they'll get used to it and then demand it, and develop the narcissism of child stars without making the salaries of child stars, and you will have to pay the therapy bills out of your own pocket.
Somehow I think I'm going to be paying for their therapy either way, but that's another blog post.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and we can discuss.
Will our kids have even stronger memories when they look at our FB or Instagram pages after we've posted them?
Will they think they had an impossibly amazing childhood because they won't have memories of all the pics we don't post? Not to mention the incidents we don't record at all...?
Or maybe their memories will be so diluted because there are so many photos and videos, they won't remember every incident even if it was recorded. Maybe they'll mainly remember the feelings they had, just like we did.
Pro tip: Try to avoid showing your kids pics or video of themselves right after you record them. Otherwise they'll get used to it and then demand it, and develop the narcissism of child stars without making the salaries of child stars, and you will have to pay the therapy bills out of your own pocket.
Somehow I think I'm going to be paying for their therapy either way, but that's another blog post.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and we can discuss.
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