A photographic memory is when you can see events in your head as if they were taking place again right in front of you. It is a very apt expression, for it is as if your brain has somehow taken a Pulitzer Prize-winning snapshot with every detail frozen in place. Having a photographic memory has its good points, and its bad points. Let's now examine these points from someone who had this kind of memory and then lost it.

My Story

I used to have a photographic memory. I could remember, in minute detail, comedian's monologues, song lyrics, family conversations and the names and years of all the winners of the Kentucky Derby. When I was a child, this photographic memory served me extremely well in school, because I could remember lessons on the test day. It was also nice to be relied on as a walking reference desk.

Ad Then I Grew Up

The amazement of my classmates soon changed, people around me became jealous, rather than being amazed by my photographic memory, they grew to positively despise it. I could remember things they said that they couldn't for the life of them remember. It got to the stage where no one would talk around me and they even began to exclude me from their company. My classmates shunned me, because I knew all of the answers. Sometimes I would purposely give a wrong answer just to make the rest of the class laugh.

It is obvious that the reason people without a photographic memory resent someone with one is that no one likes to be proven that they are lacking and quite often wrong. If you want to retain and develop a photographic memory, be very careful who you let know of your ability. Do not display your talent on your sleeve for the world to see rather keep it under raps only displaying it in a humble quite way. Although this is not fair, this is the way the world works.

I lost my photographic memory practically the day I hit 30. Or was it 29? Maybe it was when I was 28anyway, I lost it and haven't been able to find where I last put it. I would miss not having a photographic memory anymore, but I can't quite remember if I was unhappy with it.

Children are more prone to having a photographic memory than adults, for the simple reason that children don't have as much to remember. If your child pops up with, "That's not what you said! You said this," they are not trying to make fun of you; they are actually trying to be helpful. Having a photographic memory can be hard for a child at times, since it seems they are so different. Be sure you let your child know that you appreciate their ability, but encourage them to keep it a secret as a special gift that they have been given, try not to let it go to your head but rather nurture it and let it develop quietly in the background, I am sure you will be happy you did.