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Joy English · Level C1 · Psychologyjoy-english.com

A podcast about photographs and memory

Name:Date:

A presenter and two guests discuss whether recording everything on a phone weakens what we actually remember.

Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening/digital-memory-podcast

Attitude, opinion and inference

Listen and choose the best answer. Some answers are not stated directly.

  1. What is Callum's attitude to the suggestion that phones damage memory?
    • a) He thinks the claim is completely false
    • b) He accepts there is an effect but thinks it is limited
    • c) He is certain it will become a serious problem
    • d) He believes it affects only older people
  2. According to Callum, why do people remember fewer details of photographed objects?
    • a) They forget to take the photograph home
    • b) They prefer to look at screens
    • c) They are too busy choosing a good angle
    • d) They rely on the camera and attend less closely
  3. When does the effect Callum describes disappear?
    • a) When people concentrate on a specific detail
    • b) When people photograph only family members
    • c) When the photographs are printed
    • d) When people take fewer than ten pictures
  4. What point does Tamsin make from her experience with old prints?
    • a) Most families have lost their oldest photographs
    • b) Printed pictures fade faster than digital files
    • c) Stories told later keep a memory alive more than the image does
    • d) People prefer photographs without any people in them
  5. What is Callum more concerned about than the number of photographs?
    • a) Photographs take up too much storage
    • b) People delete too many pictures
    • c) Cameras are becoming too complicated
    • d) Nobody sorts the images or looks at them again
  6. Why does Tamsin say her advice "sounds odd"?
    • a) She has never thrown anything away herself
    • b) Someone in her job would be expected to keep everything
    • c) She does not trust families to follow it
    • d) Her archive is already too small
  7. What is Callum's reservation about apps that resurface old pictures?
    • a) They are too expensive for most people
    • b) They delete the ordinary pictures automatically
    • c) They may give a one-sided, flattering view of the past
    • d) They make people less willing to take photographs
  8. Why does Tamsin value ordinary days?
    • a) They show how life was really lived, which historians will want to know
    • b) They are easier to photograph than special occasions
    • c) They make the best stories for grandchildren
    • d) They are usually forgotten by the people living them

Listen for details

Listen again and type the missing word or number. You can write numbers as words or digits.

  1. Callum Reid is a cognitive ___.
  2. People bring Tamsin old prints in ___.
  3. Tamsin recommends a selection of ___ pictures with names and dates on the back.
  4. Callum suggests finding out what you can recall a ___ later.
  5. Tamsin asks listeners to speak to the ___ relative they know.

Answer key

Attitude, opinion and inference

  1. b) He accepts there is an effect but thinks it is limitedHe resists the word damaging and says the effect is small and can disappear.
  2. d) They rely on the camera and attend less closelyHe says we hand the job of remembering to the camera, so we pay less attention.
  3. a) When people concentrate on a specific detailZooming in on one particular feature forces people to look properly.
  4. c) Stories told later keep a memory alive more than the image doesShe says people remember the story told afterwards, not the day itself; the retelling keeps the memory alive.
  5. d) Nobody sorts the images or looks at them againHe says unsorted images are almost worthless because nobody returns to them or chooses which matter.
  6. b) Someone in her job would be expected to keep everythingShe works with an archive, so telling people to throw things away seems surprising coming from her.
  7. c) They may give a one-sided, flattering view of the pastHe says they can feed us a polished version, so we remember highlights rather than ordinary days.
  8. a) They show how life was really lived, which historians will want to knowShe says future historians will want the ordinary days, because that is the life actually lived.

Listen for details

  1. psychologistNoor introduces him as a cognitive psychologist.
  2. shoeboxes / shoe boxesShe says people bring her shoeboxes of old prints.
  3. thirty / 30She mentions a selection of thirty pictures with names and dates written on the back.
  4. monthHe says to see what you can recall a month from now.
  5. oldestShe says to ring the oldest relative you know.

Transcript

Noor: Welcome back to Thinking Aloud. This week we're asking whether keeping a record of everything makes us remember less. My guests are Callum Reid, a cognitive psychologist, and Tamsin Okafor, who looks after a community archive of family photographs. Callum, is our phone-filled lifestyle quietly damaging our memories?

Callum: I'd resist the word damaging. There is some evidence that people who photograph an object remember fewer of its details than people who simply look at it. The likeliest explanation is that we hand the job of remembering to the camera, so we pay less attention. But the effect is small, and it disappears if people are asked to zoom in on one particular feature, because that forces them to look properly.

Tamsin: That rings true from my side of things. People bring me shoeboxes of old prints, and they rarely remember the day a picture was taken. What they remember is the story that was told about it afterwards. It's the retelling that keeps the memory alive, not the picture itself.

Noor: So the photograph is a prompt, rather than the memory.

Callum: Precisely, and that's why I'm less worried about quantity than about what happens next. Thousands of unsorted images are almost worthless, because nobody ever returns to them. Not only do we fail to revisit them, we rarely even choose which ones matter.

Tamsin: Which is why I tell families to throw things away. It sounds odd coming from someone in my job, I know. But a selection of thirty pictures with names and dates written on the back will mean far more to a grandchild than thirty thousand files that nobody can search.

Noor: Does the technology make that kind of selection easier or harder?

Callum: Both, really. Apps that resurface old pictures can spark genuine recollection, but they sometimes feed us a polished version of the past. We may end up remembering the highlights rather than the ordinary days that made up most of our lives.

Tamsin: I'd go further. The ordinary days are exactly what future historians will want. Hardly anyone photographs a Tuesday afternoon, yet that's the life that was actually lived.

Noor: A final thought from each of you. What would you ask listeners to do this week?

Callum: Put your phone away at one event and see what you can recall a month from now. Treat it as a small experiment, not a rule.

Tamsin: Choose one photograph, ring the oldest relative you know, and ask them what was happening just outside the frame.

Joy English · free English practice · https://joy-english.com/listening/digital-memory-podcast