Forgetfulness: Opportunity for Creativity

It’s both simple and easy to blame my forgetfulness on age. Then again, I was never good at memorizing which was a disadvantage in school. And these days, forgetting something is a frequent occurrence. I would say I am more forgetful on the short-term memory side of things. One of the more persistent forgetful predicaments is not remembering what I want to say next in a conversation. But I also have started to forget long-term memories that I know had stuck with me for decades…until recently.

There is significant research into dementia. Memory decline may also be related to other health issues. I also believe conditioning for short attention spans weakens the memory faculty. Much of this relates to faster messaging, messaging overload, and complex messaging.

Moving to the idea that forgetfulness may be an opportunity for creativity. Working with memory may be a great opportunity for a design thinking project. There should be an abundance of possible innovations or re-tools of existing solutions. How do you remember where you placed your phone? What study aids do you use? How long does it take you to recall someone’s name?

Do we need technology-assisted solutions or might it be better to just simplify or decongest things we remember?

With regard to technology-based assistance, I remember the advent of digital assistants and the mobile personal organizer functions. Today, there is excitement about Artificial Intelligence. What solution can human-centered design thinking lead to?

If we think about simplification as a habit-based strategy to better memory skills, we could create various composite character profiles to help us apply empathy in our design thinking process. Can we enhance management of our short-term vs long-term memory by using a human-centered approach?

I would also include consideration of health-based changes to strengthen our memory system health and condition. What could we do in the area of lifestyle optimization for garnering memory well-being and resilience?

Interesting. Memory health may be a topic I include in this summer’s Sustainability Design Thinking course.