Documenting events with the latest smartphone is a ubiquitous practice today, but new research suggests that you might actually get more long-term satisfaction by keeping an old-fashioned daily journal.
In a new study, researchers compared everyday events and "extraordinary" events such as graduations, holidays and vacations to see what people will most enjoy reliving through pictures and journal entries, the Boston Globe reported.
The study's lead researcher came up with the idea after wondering if the ordinary moments not usually captured in photos were more pleasurable to remember.
"I was going through family photos and realized that most of them were of very extraordinary events (birthdays, holidays, family vacations), but there were very few pictures that captured the everyday, ordinary moments--the way things were most of the time," lead study author Ting Zhang, a graduate student at Harvard Business School, wrote in an email quoted by the Globe. "Every once in a while, when I did stumble across those photos, they felt very special and were a nice surprise."
In one study, participants were asked to document a recent experience with a romantic partner, writing the entry a week before Valentine's Day. After the holiday, they were asked to write down what they did on Feb. 14.
Even though Valentine's Day was a more "extraordinary" event, the researchers discovered that people were more likely to be interested in reliving seemingly mundane happenings that become more special over time.
For another study, 135 undergraduates were asked to write down a list of mundane facts to make a "time capsule" with things like an inside joke, a transcript of a recent conversation and the last party they attended. The participants didn't think at the time that they would be interested in having that information later, but three months afterward, they were surprisingly curious about their responses.
The researchers conducted a third study where people were asked if they wanted to write down a recent conversation or watch a short video. Most of the participants said they would watch the video; however, the researchers then asked them to do both. While few people thought they would care to reread an ordinary conversation, they were also much more curious and interested about their entries later.
The study co-authors have acted on their findings by purchasing five-year diaries to document their everyday lives, Zhang said.
"Re-reading this event of doing mundane stuff with my daughter has certainly brightened my day," one study participant wrote. "I'm glad I chose that event to write about because of the incredible joy it gives me at this moment."
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
