Good Reason to Put the Camera Down Once in a While

By SheSpeaksTeam Dec 27, 2013

If you’re always the one with your smart phone in front of your face snapping pictures at parties, intimate dinners, and play dates then you’re probably missing a lot more than you realize. Maybe you’re not guilty of over-sharing, but we all have at least one Facebook friend who seems to have their life on livestream mode 24.7.

Sites like Facebook, Instagram, Vine and Flckr have made video and photo sharing a way of life for many people but are they really helping us preserve those memories? A new study suggests taking too many pictures may actually do the opposite and make it easier for us to forget all those photo-snapping moments.

Jezebel reports about the Fairfield University study that suggests taking too many pictures can cause what researchers are calling “photo impairment effect.” A group of college students involved in the study were taken to a museum where half of them were told to take photos throughout their visit and the others were just told to observe.

The next day the students were asked to recall some of what they had seen at the museum the day before. Interestingly, the students who did not take photos were able to remember more about the objects viewed at the museum than the students who did take pictures. Students who took close-up shots fared a little better than the students who took pictures from further away.

Though the new research may give some of us reason to put away the camera every now and again, it’s unlikely to change the minds of many people who have become accustomed to uploading life as it happens.

What do you think of the new research suggesting people who take too many pictures have a harder time remembering the event?

Will this study’s findings make you relax and put away the camera every now and again?