Do you capture your memories using your smartphone? And do you take more, or fewer, photos now than you did in the days before smartphones? I ponder those questions in week 8 of The Sunday Spark—a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. Also this week: Hebb’s law, and a serious look at toilet paper use.

The Sunday Spark – Week 8

On my mind this week: How do you capture your memories?

Last weekend, I read an interesting post on The Heart of the Matter. Victoria wrote about the importance of making memories and living the moment rather than going to great lengths to capture every moment on our smartphones. It turns out that snapping too many pictures can actually harm the brain’s ability to retain memories.

Her post really made me think about how my picture taking habits have changed since I’ve owned a smartphone. Back in the “olden days”, I took my camera to every family gathering, and on every trip. I have pictures of every big event and moment, and I love reliving those memories in my scrapbooks and photo albums.

In my Clutter Tales post Let’s revive printed photos, I expressed my concerns that the rise of digital photography could lead to many of our photos and memories being lost rather than carefully preserved. I still worry about that.

Contrary to the point Victoria makes in her post, I take far fewer pictures these days, despite having my phone with me almost all the time. I think the physical act of carrying a camera made me more mindful about capturing memories. My smartphone is just too convenient, and I take it for granted, not thinking to get it out.

What’s your experience? Do you take more or fewer pictures than you used to? How do you preserve your memories?

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Three highlights of the week

A big milestone is something to celebrate, but it’s also important to celebrate the everyday pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• We had a wonderful family gathering on Saturday for my Mum’s 90^th birthday. It was nice to have the whole family together, and I met my new great-nephew for the first time. He’s a cutie!
• My daughter Laura was home for the weekend for Mum’s birthday celebration. I had fun on Sunday afternoon playing cards with Laura and Colleen.
• My new “underseater” suitcase arrived just in time for my trip to Chicago. It fit nicely under the seat, even on the small regional jet I was on. Plus, it had plenty of room for my overnight trip.

Three Two things I learned this week

Between work and travel, it was another busy week with less time to read and learn. Even so, here are two things I learned this week:

Hebb’s Law and Habits

When reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, I learned about Hebb’s Law.

Donald Hebb was a Canadian psychologist who did groundbreaking research on brain functions. His law is often summarized as “neurons that fire together, wire together”. Hebb’s research shows when a cell persistently activates another nearby cell, the connection between the two cells becomes stronger. (Source: The Decision Lab)

So, repeating a habit leads to clear physical changes in the brain. Just be mindful of repeating positive habits rather than negative ones.

Who uses the most toilet paper?

One of the vivid memories from early in the pandemic was empty supermarket shelves where the toilet paper should have been. Toilet paper seemed such an odd thing for people to be hoarding. It’s definitely a product we take for granted…at least until we don’t have any. (Does anyone remember the Seinfeld episode when Elaine pleaded with the woman in the stall next to her to “spare a square”?)

Did you know Americans use more toilet paper per capita than any other country? Each person in the United States uses 141 rolls of toilet paper a year. United Kingdom residents are also big TP users—with each person using 127 rolls a year. Interestingly, Canadians and Australians use far less than our counterparts in other English-speaking countries, at 83 and 88 rolls per year respectively. (Source: Earth 911)

Sustainable living tip: Use less toilet paper

Let’s continue on the theme of toilet paper for this week’s sustainable living tip. Toilet paper has a huge environmental impact. The TP we use in Canada and the United States is made using wood from Canada’s boreal forest—the most carbon-dense intact forest remaining on the planet.

Forests play a critical role in the health of our planet. Each year, the logging industry in Canada degrades over a million acres of this forest. And much of that logging is done to fuel the demand for a product we use for a few seconds and flush down the toilet. (Source: NRDC)

I’m not suggesting you stop using toilet paper, but this week’s tip is to pay attention to, and try to reduce, the amount of toilet paper you use. Can you reduce the number of “squares” you use each time? It will make a difference. I can’t find any reasonable explanation for the huge difference between TP usage in the United States compared to other countries, other than we simply use too many squares without thinking of the impact of those squares.

The same goes for other paper products. Consider switching to cloths, rags or “reusable paper towels” instead of paper towels. Use a handkerchief for your sniffles instead of disposable tissues.

Our planet can’t afford for us to continue to flush precious resources down the toilet.

Thanks for dropping by and reading The Sunday Spark. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.