Who am I and why am I here?
January 23, 2009 by Rick Latona
Opening a browser window and forgetting which website you were going to is the modern day equivalent of forgetting why you opened the refrigerator. I don’t know about you guys but I do it multiple times per day.
I have a little system down. First, I’ll alt-tab to go back to the thing I was just looking at before, to see if it jogs my memory. Second, I’ll check my email program to see if it was something there that inspired the effort. If neither of those work I resort to staring at my screen for ten minutes until my eyes start to bleed.
Lately, my memory loss is spreading to other uses of technology. Some of you may have received this call from me already.
victim, “hello?”
Me, “Um, why was I calling you?”
victim, “you tell me dumb*ss”
Me, “I’m sure it was brilliant and witty but I can’t think of what it was”
victim, “if it’s important you’ll remember, yada yada yada….”
I can’t wait to find out what new technology my minor cases of amnesia will follow. Perhaps one day I’ll forget why I’m on my roof staring at solar panels. I think they’d call that a flashback rather than alzheimers.
Funny, I have the same symptoms you describe here for a pair of years with a serious acceleration these past months.
I even admit that lately I thought:
Is this Elsheimer who is already knocking at my door?
Grrr! I am not here! I don’t want to open… I am only 43 years old.
Rick - Chalk it up to trying to stay three steps ahead all the time … a deep list of rotating priorities and goals always waiting for attention. I imagine you stay busy in the moment and your mind never stops.
I used to have a pretty incredible memory. But now live and die by the sticky note. When I’m not working, I have a complete aversion to living “by a schedule”.
Francois may be correct in his assessment of early onset Alzheimers - LOL.
oh my god!
I thought it was just me!!!
hope its not Alzheimers! l’ve not
reached 30 yet.
It must be some new symptoms for
something not yet in the medical books!
we need a name for it:
domainer memory loss syndrome
Someone…quick.. go reg the .com !!
browser
Rick, try Ginko Biloba each morning.
And for those of you who read this and go to GinkoBiloba.com to see what’s there, it looks like a Marchex website.
@Rick,
Get yourself a DS Lite, buy Brain Age and Flash Focus and take them with while you’re on a plane or waiting for a meeting.
You’d be surprised how much it sharpens your mind.
- Richard
Rick,
I was going to ask you something…but I forgot the question.
“Francois may be correct in his assessment of early onset Alzheimers ”
I recently saw a program on Memory but I forgot what they said.
Oh yea, now I remember.
This type of memory loss is apparently a normal part of aging.
Here’s how you can tell the difference between normal aging memory loss and Alzheimers.
Normal Memory loss:
You can’t remember where you put your car keys.
When you find them, you drive away.
Alzheimer’s Memory loss:
You can’t remember where you put your car keys.
When you find them you can’t remember what the keys are for.
LOL
Very good:
“Alzheimer’s Memory loss:
You can’t remember where you put your car keys.
When you find them you can’t remember what the keys are for.”
This is not about memory loss or aging.
This happens to people who are all encompassed in what they are doing.
Why do you think the notion of the absentminded professor came about?
Einstein never even learned to drive a car because all he wanted to do was crack the secrets of the universe.
@tony - you are dead on. I was reading a great article about Dean Kamen (inventor of the segway among other things) and he is the exact same way.
Similar problems here at 50! My wife got me to start taking Fish Oil everyday and when I remember to take it : ) it seems to help.
Interesting post as I tought this could not be happening to me.
I am almost happy to learn that I am not alone
I have taken jotting down notes for most things. I use RoboForm for my password so I get to remember only one very difficult password for the most part. I still get locked out of some of my sites once in a while.
I like to think this is a matter of the creative part of your (our) brain moving so fast that the other parts, you know the ones that take notes and all are having a rough time keeping up.
Brain cells only die when you stop using them.
“This is not about memory loss or aging.”
Yes it actually is.
Starting at the age of 30 and certainly after 40, we all start to have
trouble sometimes remembering some things.
Like forgetting where you put something.
Like forgetting a phone # (temporarily) that you really know well.
Like forgetting the name of an actor when you are discussing a film
It’s on the tip of your tongue.
Then bingo! You remember the name.
It’s Recall vs Recpgnition
When we’re younger it’s easier to recall things from memory.
As we age, recall often becomes delayed…and then you remember.
When you can’t recall you can recognize the answer if provided with choices.
Here’s an excellent tutorial on memory types:
http://snurl.com/MemoryTutorial
——-
“Brain cells only die when you stop using them.”
Frankie,
You might like to read this:
50 things that Kill Brain Cells
http://snurl.com/BrainCellKillers
———
Correction: Recpgnition should be Recognition.
When I got on this page I was like ..”ok, why did I come here again”. classic…
My memory lapses mostly seem to revolve around going to the kitchen, pouring a drink, and the drink never making it to wherever I’m going, whether it’s my office or the TV or whatever. I’m particularly fond of opening a new email and realizing I’ve already forgotten who I was going to email and why.
I’m afraid it’s probably hereditary.
The only way I could ever remember things is to write them down. Lists, lists, lists. Although I cannot help you with this web page visiting forgetfulness thing that you…..hmmm….look at the…..Hi, Rick Latona. It’s Tia Wood. Um, why was I commenting you?
I got this often times a day also… Trying to understand, I did a little research: it seems that a variant of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder is gaining traction with the use of communication technology.
We monitor too many channels simultaneously so that in the end it is getting more and more difficult concentrating attention on a single task. When indeed you focus on something, inertia drags you somewhere else and you simply loose what you were about to do.
here is a good start on the subject http://news.cnet.com/Why-cant-you-pay-attention-anymore/2008-1022_3-5637632.html
Rick: Thanks for bringing up the subject, I now know theres other with the same problem. Yesterday I couldn´t remember a password for a computer I use once a week. I tried 10 combinations before I gave up, started searching on Google for a “hack” or trick to bypass the password, but as there were no 2 min solution I thought it would be better to stand off for a while, and 5 min later I could remember what it was… most of the time this approach works for me…
NIX : Fantastic article, I will try to close some of my windows/browsers/programs and see if this will help a little. Actually I dont think its nessecery to follow the soccer results, stock quotes, new sites, blogs, aftermarket every 2 min, but often im having more then 20 windows open aswell as programs, documents and sheets… this can not be healthy and apperently its not, back to basic and start thinking, instead of beeing run by my computer :-))
ugh, this really hit home…