Doom scrolling? No thanks! Scrolling that is helpful to your brain? Yes please!
I’m not talking about your social media feed, your missed texts, or your email. Move past those and get to your photo roll.
Research suggests that capturing, displaying, or revisiting family photos have a powerful effect on our brain. Photos capture memories of past experiences, stored in our brains, and revisiting them strengthens their representation by our neurons. Neuroimaging research shows that looking at photos of our loved ones slow down the “stress center” of our brain.
In addition to that, if you stumble on an old photo, you may laugh out loud. Kids do it all the time when they see themselves as a baby and we may laugh as we question our style choices, depending on how long ago that photo was taken! Photos can also act as a glue that binds families together, remembering the good times we have spent together and triggering happy conversations and more laughs.
Offset some of the screen time you have to spend and scroll your photo roll, or even better pull out the photo albums your grandma made for you and let your brain enjoy the benefits!
