Growing up, reading played a big role in my life. It was inevitable. My father is a prolific reader, my mother enjoyed the occasional book, and my brother loves to read all sorts of things. So, our bookshelves were always (and still are) overflowing with stuff to read. We would visit our local library frequently, and I got my library card when I was about six or seven. If I didn’t have a book, I would be reading subtitles, fanfics, comics, or articles. To this day, I always keep a book or two on me so I can read whenever. You get the point: I read a lot. So, reading the “Speaking, Writing, and Literacy” section of J.D. Applen’s article “Old Media, New Media, and Knowledge” was interesting.
In particular, I found the “Phaedrus” quote Applen used to illustrate a worry oral cultures had with literacy amusing. For reference, the quote reads: “For this invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory.” I have the complete opposite issue; if I do not read, I forget.
Oral vs. Reading Memorization
Recently, the location of where I work has changed, so I’ve met many new colleagues as a result. However, I’ve had a reoccurring issue when getting to know them; within thirty minutes of hearing their name, I’d forget it. I tried repeating their names multiple times in my head after hearing it so I’d remember, but that never helped. Yet, when I asked to see a colleague’s name written down just last week, I instantly memorized her name. In fact, I still remember it, even though I haven’t been actively trying to through repetition.
It’s not like I’m unfamiliar with memorization through repetition, either. Growing up in a Muslim household, it was a must to memorize the many verses used for daily prayers. But after initially memorizing the verses through reading, if I didn’t revisit them written down after a while, I’d forget them. (And keep in mind, I was repeating them orally five times a day.) I believe the lack of seeing them written down is the cause of my forgetfulness because of my experience learning Japanese. I forgot the exact Japanese word, but it was used frequently in a couple of chapters of Ascendance of a Bookworm. So, I had quickly memorized it as I read. But that word eventually stopped getting used for at least an entire volume and I could only recall it once I looked up its translation. This has happened many other times, too.
Whether I’m some mutated result derived from literacy, or the worry Plato expressed in “Phaedrus” was unfounded, I do not know. I feel that he might have just had a false notion of memorization’s capabilities. Memorization doesn’t mean you have good memory; it means you worked to remember.
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