All Of The Time You Spend On Social Media Could Be Good For Your Memory

Simply writing things down has been scientifically proven to enhance one's memory, but what if I told you all of that posting you do on social media helps, too? Because it does, apparently.

That's right, social media might not be as bad for your psyche as you might have previously thought... Wait, wait -- let me finish!

In a recent study conducted by a group of researchers at Cornell University, 66 students were asked to document their experiences on social media over the course of a single week.

The students were then asked to rate each documented experience from one to five. The more important events that they experienced would warrant a higher rating.

Events of less importance would warrant lower ratings.

After a week, the participants were asked to take two quizzes. One of the quizzes was given at the end of the first week and the other quiz was given a week later.

Based on the quiz results, students who used social media to document their experiences remembered them on both quizzes. Events that weren't recorded using social media were not as memorable.

As a result of the study, it was found that social media played a huge role in retaining information from past occurrences.

In a statement regarding the study, Professor Qi Wang revealed,

If people want to remember personal experiences, the best way is to put them online. Social media - blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and others alike - provide an important outlet for us to recall memories, in the public space, and share with other people.

This study proves just that. In other words, if you spend hours and hours posting your life all over social media throughout the week, you're actually helping exercise your memory.

I guess this explains why so many people take photos of their food and selfies with their pets. We just want the good memories to last FOREVER.

The results of this study also explain why we're willing to sacrifice our "cool" image for picture-perfect photos using selfie sticks!

Wang continued,

We create a sense of self in the process of recalling, evaluating and sharing with others memories of personal experiences in our lives. That's happening when we use social media, without us even noticing it. We just think, 'Oh, I'm sharing my experience with my friends.' But by shaping the way we remember our experiences, it's also shaping who we are.

And just when you thought social media was taking over your life without benefitting you in any way, we now have another reason to overshare and be proud of it!

Be who you are -- even if it means uploading three selfies simultaneously.

Citations: Posting on social media may improve your memory, study suggests (Business Insider)