Memory and connecting accross distance

Since moving to the island, to get over missing family and old friends back on the mainland, we have become regular Facebook users. My Mum has even become a silver surfer, though when i took her to buy a laptop, she got to the till and forgot her pin number, which wasn't a good start with technology....

This weekend I have joined a group called 'If you live in Halstead...' which asks for memories of the town I grew up in. The group has been a ravaging phenomena, growing its members to over 1300 in 48 hours.  Halstead, when I lived there, was about the size of Stornoway - 1 secondary school, 1 sports centre/swimming pool and far too many hairdressers and pubs.

The site has brought together so many scattered people, sharing a collective memory of a place and similar or shared experiences.  The positive energy generated by this group is obvious from its viral growth. Like the branches of a tree, one has passed on to many, who in turn pass on to many more. The speed of member growth is a testiment to the happiness shared memories evoke.

In many cases with the posts, it is a place which triggers memory - we have all played at a certain park in our childhood and each of us has had an individual relationship with for instance, the slide. In the same way that Citizen Kane's last words were 'Rosebud' the name of his sledge, perhaps we all remember the slide well because of the thrill it gave us.

Greenwood Park's slide and one of its many happy users

What I find more interesting is the idea of shared memory, which may be false or fabricated, or borrowed from an original telling.  I am sure I remember getting my pants stuck on the top of the slide one time!  They ripped and it caused maybe a mixture of embarressment, shock and humour - all intense emotions which are said to help to 'fix' a memory. However via the facebook group I have heard 4 other childhood stories of pants and trousers ripping at the top of the slide. Of course its highly possible that all of us just fell victim to the same broken slide, but I wonder whether there is more happening here too. Such a story or anecdote could easily have been shared over the years, retold and in retelling attributed to our own experiences, rather than as a group story. The study of 'false memories' seems quite popular in academia, I wonder if facebook could become a repository for subjects to collect data from...

Obviously people everywhere enjoy sharing memories and most especially so on the islands. The local historical societies here are very popular, both with the islanders who have strong family connections already, but also with foreigners who are tracing their family roots.  Because many families were forced to immigrate in the 1800's because of the Clearances, there are many people who can now connect across the distance to their past, and unlock their own precious memories.

The Pairc Historical Society and Hebridean Connections facebook pages have just started putting up photographs which not only serve as a historical record, but make people feel part of a collective through sharing the same memories, or memories of the same place or event.

I wonder what effect this will have on human cognitive development in the coming years - the ability to recall memories is something that we all hope to hang onto as we get older. Perhaps social networking will show itself to be a social good for improving memory in old age and improving our mental well being and happiness in the future....