Maybe. The human brain is pretty plastic, so how it processes information can change. Prior to the written word, for example, oral tradition - remembering stories - was much more common. Likewise we’ve seen a change in how people process information with the rise of the Internet.
I would almost venture to say that “I remember the day that…” was even more common prior to the invention of the printing press. Assuming they were actually present for that event.
Memory is a funny thing. We remember major events that happened because we keep remembering that day, and reinforcing that memory. So in time it seems like a big deal but we have just been reminded of the event so often that the memory seems so clear in our mind. And possibly reinventing that event everytime we remember it.
Like the Kennedy assassination. I have re-remembered that day every year for 50 years, or more often. If it was just another average day, I wouldn’t recall it at all.
I was in the 2nd grade in a beautiful old primary school building that only had 1st and 2nd grade, 4 school rooms. The teachers were very upset and crying, even little kids can pick up on that. We all were lining up for the buses to come and take us home. The only message from the teachers was that our parents would explain it to us when we got home.
Someone standing in line ahead of me peed their pants. We will call him Eric, because that was his name. And a little stream of pee was flowing down the floor next to where we were all standing, and watching it. No one said a word. We just stood there watching the stream of pee. So that is what I remember about that day, a little stream of pee on a beatiful hardwood floor.
That is what I have remembered each year on the anniversary. I can’t even say that was what really happened, because it has been re-remembered so many times. I have a memory of a memory of a memory.
That is such a poignant memory of that day.
These are the things I like people to tell me about.
So interesting.
You’re questioning the very function of memory with an unconvincing argument. People tend to remember things that matter to them, and this would have been true back then as it is true now. There is no past in which people didn’t remember things that mattered, because this infringes on what ‘matters’ means both linguistically and neurologically.
You need a lot more substance to base this one on.
What I said was, maybe people were able to recount stories of things they remembered better than we can, prior to the invention of the printing press, because of the history of oral tradition that predated said press. I’m not questioning the function of memory or claiming people didn’t remember things that mattered. I’m saying they may have remembered it in a different way. Maybe. Just throwing an idea out there, which was generated by having read this book many years ago. The author spent a great deal of time talking about the history of writing and how mankind made the shift from oral tradition to the written word. We weren’t able to peer into their minds and see what was going on neurologically, but we can now in contemporary times observe how different ways of receiving information have influenced the way we think, how we collect information, how we integrate new information, etc. Could this also apply to memory? Maybe. I’m not making any grand claims here. We are firmly in WAG territory.
(And I’m not claiming Carr’s book is the definitive source on anything. But it did make me think.)
Anyway, how’s Mom doing?
“Uh, Mom went on the roof…”
Perhaps but 9/11 unfolded for me entirely on the radio (NPR). I remember it vividly.
I think that counts as “being there,” at least in the way that I mean. 9/11 was experienced collectively because of media like TV and radio. 2,000 years ago, you would not have been able to listen to it unfold on the radio. You would not have been able to experience it unless you were geographically right there when it happened.
It’s the difference between hearing, “Oh my God! That tower just collapsed!”
And hearing, “Did you hear that tower collapsed? It happened about ten days ago.”
One is the subject of gossip pretty far removed from the situation, the other is feeling like you are a part of everything as it happens. One of the drawbacks of modern media is that it can facilitate collective trauma.