Use the photo paradox: photograph selectively or not at all

Decide before an experience whether you’re there to photograph it or live it — trying to do both usually produces neither well.

Why it works

Research on photography and memory shows that capturing images can impair the experience’s encoding in episodic memory by offloading attention from the experience to the capturing behavior. The brain treats the photo as the memory storage, reducing its own engagement. However, selective photography with intentional attention can enhance memory for photographed objects — the key distinction is conscious engagement versus automatic documentation.

How to do it

1. Before events you want to savor, decide in advance: full presence (no photography) or intentional photography (one or two images, consciously chosen).
2. If photographing, take the image, then put the phone away and return to presence.
3. Avoid continuous photo-taking or video recording — these modes shift the brain to observer-of-event rather than participant-in-event.

Evidence

Henkel (2014) found that photographing objects in a museum led to worse memory for those objects compared to attending to them without photographing — the "photo-taking impairment effect." Subsequent research found focused photography with intentional attention did not impair memory. (rct)

The impairment effect has been replicated but with nuance: impairment depends on how the photography is done. Deliberate photography with attention may not produce impairment.

Sources

• Henkel (2014), "Point-and-shoot memories: The influence of taking photos on memory for a museum tour," Psychological Science

Common mistake

Filming an entire concert or dinner continuously, which means you experienced the whole event from behind a screen and have footage you will rarely watch.