A couple of weeks ago Lara sent me an interesting NY Times article: Is the immediate playback of events changing children’s memories? It has definitely made me re-think the way I share photos and videos to my children. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think it’s bad to let them watch videos of past events, but it’s the ‘immediate’ in the title that made me think. Why watch back a performance or any other experience immediately afterwards? What is that even adding?

In fact, according to the article, the change of perspective of watching a video from a ‘third person’ (versus the ‘first person perspective’ of the actual experience) can ‘increase self-presentation’ and ‘dampen emotional aspects of the experience’. Watching yourself perform or even simply ‘be’ in a video gives you an idea how other people see you — adding and even re-shaping the memory.

With upcoming summer travels in mind and the undoubtful incounatable amount of footage we will shoot of our children enjoying their holiday experiences, I thought this would be an interesting read.

xxx Esther