This Man uses Twitter to reinforce His damaged memory
Thomas Dixon lost his episodic reminiscence in a disturbing mind injury, and Twitter helps him get it back.
Thomas Dixon has no idea what he did the previous day. Sitting throughout from me at an outdoor cafe, he tries to jog his memory by way of doing what a lot of us do habitually: checking his iPhone.
specifically, he pulls up Twitter and begins scrolling via his own feed. “Ah proper,” he says. “I was once talking to my buddy Stephanie about our New year’s Eve plans.” On this drizzly Friday afternoon in downtown Philadelphia, nothing appears even remotely unusual a few guy checking his cellphone to appear one thing up.
but unlike you or I, Dixon isn’t exercising a compulsive, pointless dependancy. without his phone, he literally wouldn’t have the ability to keep in mind that what he did the day before today. Twitter is his reminiscence.
You wouldn’t guess from having a face-to-face dialog with Dixon that his brain is damaged. that is because nothing about his speech or common intelligence was plagued by the accident. certainly, Dixon’s high IQ has gained him membership in Mensa and ensured him a 3.7 GPA when he completed his graduate degree in tutorial psychology at Temple university in may. He also just lately recommenced a long-standing custom of touring to a special usa each New Years Eve.
four years ago, Dixon was once out for a run close to his parents’ house when he was struck by using a automobile and injured so badly that docs weren’t certain if he would live to tell the tale. He would not take into account that the accident, but it surely left a permanent and pervasive mark on his life: because that day, his reminiscence hasn’t been the identical. specifically, his episodic memory–particular, autobiographical important points like the place he was, who he met, what he ate etc–has been compromised by way of the stressful brain damage he sustained that late November afternoon.
“i’m always privy to what i am speaking about and who i’m with within the second,” Dixon says. “I just do not know what happened the previous day or the day sooner than. My declarative episodic reminiscence is shot.”
since the accident, Dixon has relied heavily on his smartphone to enhance the part of his brain that’s no longer functioning properly. He makes use of Twitter all the way through the day to make be aware of the small print he isn’t likely to understand that the next day to come: What he was reading about, what kind of espresso he ordered, who he spoke to. Even the small print of his sex existence, which he tweets about in Korean to keep away from embarrassing over-the-shoulder moments. All of this goes into his non-public Twitter account, which he can later consult with, search, and analyze.
Dixon’s strategies for enhancing his brainpower with know-how are obviously very efficient for him. it’s also putting simply how customary it seems–It most certainly says one thing about the rest of us that a man with literal brain injury would not look at all bizarre consulting a tiny computer all day long. but whereas he inadvertently shames us for being glued to our smartphones, Dixon can also be providing up free productivity tips: this is how lifelogging and environment digital reminders can help any of us automate our lives. however Dixon’s device will be particularly precious to other people with reminiscence issues.
“If this have been many years in the past, i’d be walking around with binders,” Dixon says, envisioning how he would deal with his injury with no highly effective, web-related computer in his pocket.
the method of writing down everything he does–Dixon on occasion refers to this as “extreme journaling”–is harking back to these tales you hear about individuals who overshare their each move just for private experimentation or simply the hell of it. but for Dixon, the apply has change into a vital a part of life. it is the rationale he is able to operate independently and trip the arena on his personal.
Over the previous couple of years, Dixon’s Twitter account has collected greater than 22,000 tweets, every one chronicling the small print of his day-to-day expertise. The account–which he casually refers to has his “memory”–serves as an on-demand non-public archive that he can summon at any time.
As the data has piled up, it is also enabled Dixon to operate deeper varieties of analysis on his lifestyles. on this experience, his means finishes up supercharging his reminiscence in a technique that the general public without worrying brain accidents wouldn’t be inclined to do themselves. “i have a concurrently better and worse reminiscence than everyone I’ve ever met,” he notes.
to investigate his digital reminiscence, Dixon downloads his private Twitter archive and opens it in Excel, the place he runs searches and performs general computations. having a look over this information, Dixon is ready to see that he talked about going to the health club 234 occasions. coffee comes up 240 times. to start with look, it looks as if lovely mundane stuff, however by means of quantifying the humdrum details of his existence, Dixon can spot patterns.
“on occasion if i have like an hour, i’m going to be like ‘How’s the ultimate week been?'” Dixon says. “i’m going to take a look at the previous week and i’ll go, ‘Oh, k. I actually do need to get a run in.’ So i’ll use it to influence certain choices.”
Dixon’s digital memory is not restricted to Twitter. Like many of us, he uses his Gmail inbox as an inventory of reminders. “I treat my Gmail as some other kind of external memory for common notes or meeting notes, summary of analysis, no matter,” Dixon says. “electronic mail is the rest I want to take a look at, like attachments for work. If it is going to be more massive i’ll do it an e mail, however i will mention to Twitter that I used to be engaged on the e-mail.”
Scrolling via Dixon’s iPhone calendar, he appears much busier than he truly is. which is as a result of it is loaded with daily reminders, each and every one prompting him to take some more or less motion. some of them, like doctor’s appointments, are the type of thing you can find on with reference to any one’s calendar. Others, just like the reminders to take a undeniable medicine at a undeniable time or follow up with the buddy he spoke to 2 days ago, are necessary prompts that assist fill within the blanks left in his brain with the aid of the accident.
All informed, Dixon’s manner is decidedly low tech. there isn’t a programming involved and he would not even use any IFTTT recipes. it’s just e-mail, a calendar, and Twitter, although he does occasionally test with possible add-ons to his device.
The experience has inspired Dixon to take a look at things with an entrepreneurial eye. If this method is able to virtually get rid of the consequences of his harm, what may it do for other demanding brain harm patients? What about chemotherapy sufferers who expertise memory loss? The aged?
Dixon thinks his device might be merged into a single app that’s marketed to people with reminiscence considerations. he is within the very early planning ranges of constructing a smartphone app referred to as reminiscence (prounced mee-mory). he’s gotten as far as prototyping a logo and sketching out the fundamental performance, in addition to chatting informally with developers concerning the technical details.
brain harm sufferers are inspired to have interaction within the kind of self-documenting strategies Dixon uses, however some distance too continuously the rehab amenities are stuck on the pen and paper approach. It appears particularly old-fashioned in gentle of how ubiquitous smartphones are at the present time.
As his harm and coping strategies gets more consideration–he is achieved a couple of native “Nerd Nite” talks and gotten some local press protection in Philadelphia–Dixon’s begun to suppose more severely about dedicating his existence to helping others with reminiscence issues. along with building an app, he’s regarded as marketing himself as a form of guide to others who may take advantage of his methods, or most likely to the facilities that deal with them.
it would be a logical occupation transfer for Dixon, who has been on Social security incapacity because the accident. His recovery has put him in a rather awkward position: although he has obviously coped slightly neatly, his employability remains to be up in the air.
“they’re hanging me on this grey spot,” Dixon says. “i am now not getting hired as a result of i will be able to’t remember that what took place the day past.” despite the fact that he has, in a technique, tremendous-charged his reminiscence with technology, his pure lack of ability to recall the episodic important points of his expertise might lead to hassle in any collection of traditional work eventualities.
within the intervening time, he continues to refine his own procedures within the hopes of figuring out what’s next for him.
“I in reality need to know what’s took place in my life,” Dixon says. “as a result of that is what the damage stole from me: context. the ability to maintain observe of existence’s situations. Why I went somewhere. All of that. This way basically creates a sense that my lifestyles shouldn’t be misplaced.”
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