'Senior Moments'

[thirdcrank]

Once upon a time I never forgot a face, although I didn't always remember the circumstances - good or bad - in which I'd met somebody. More recently, I've lost what I call my facial recognition technology. I don't forget familiar faces, but if I go in a shop and an assistant then goes in the back, I'm not certain if the person next out is the one I've been talking to.

[661-Pete]

On our South American trip two years ago, I remember that one person in our group set about effing and blinding at the hotel's reception desk about something. So loudly that all of us in the group (who were waiting for a coach) could hear him.

I took it upon myself to go and have a quiet word with the tour guide, saying, could she slip a word to this bloke to cool it, perhaps?

Except that halfway through, I realised I wasn't talking to the tour guide, but to another woman who bore a slight resemblance to her... She was very relaxed about my screw-up, but I'll bet she thought: there's another old geezer with a senior moment...

[francovendee]

On holiday earlier this year we stopped at a bar to have a coffee. On the way in I passed a young chap in a white shirt and black trousers. 'Two white coffees please' was met with a polite reply that he was also a customer! We made a joke of it but I did feel a bit foolish.

[ANTONISH]

I did read somewhere that passing through a doorway has an effect on the short time memory.
That would explain those times of "why did I come in here?"

[Cowsham]

Clicking the keys to my hire car parked in the main street with everyone watching and wondering why it won't open.

Then from the corner of my eye noticing another silver vauxhall's lights flashing in sympathy to my clicking. Oh oh wrong car!

[colin54]

Cowsham, Your story reminds me of when I went down to a shop in London to pick up something and a friend came along for the ride in my van. He got a bit bored waiting in the shop and went outside, when I got outside, he had opened the side sliding door of the (different make) van parked immediately behind me and was sat calm as you like on the step of someone else's vehicle.

[colin54]

I did read somewhere that passing through a doorway has an effect on the short time memory.
That would explain those times of "why did I come in here?"

I get that of course going upstairs, but thinking 'what have I turned around this way for ?' in the kitchen is a bit of a nuisance for me sometimes.

[661-Pete]

I did read somewhere that passing through a doorway has an effect on the short time memory.
That would explain those times of "why did I come in here?"

I get that of course going upstairs, but thinking 'what have I turned around this way for ?' in the kitchen is a bit of a nuisance for me sometimes.

To bring that sort of 'senior moment' right up into the electronic age: often as not, I click on Wikipedia (which I use quite a lot) and then when the front page appears, I ask myself "what did I want to look up?"

The trouble is, Wiki's front page is packed full of clickbait, some of it rather tempting...

[francovendee]

I was given a paperback to read, I normally read books on a Kindle and kept tapping the book to turn the page.

[Mike Sales]

Not really a senior moment,but I still do this occasionally nowadays.
For a time after fitting STIs I reached for my down tube levers to change gear.

[Oldjohnw]

Many look for their glasses when they are wearing them. I occasionally try to remove mine when I have already taken them off.

[Jdsk]

To bring that sort of 'senior moment' right up into the electronic age: often as not, I click on Wikipedia (which I use quite a lot) and then when the front page appears, I ask myself "what did I want to look up?"

The trouble is, Wiki's front page is packed full of clickbait, some of it rather tempting...

: - )

The boring answer is... bypass the front page by adding wiki as a search term. Even without proper site restriction the search algorithm will work fine, not surprisingly, eg:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wiki+mnemonic

But of course this also bypasses the wonderful serendipity that you've described. It's a notorious effect in scientific journals... the articles before and after the one you should be reading are so much more interesting...

And of course its all different with nonlinear sources, and so many online sources are nonlinear...

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

I was given a paperback to read, I normally read books on a Kindle and kept tapping the book to turn the page.

That's a little extreme, but on early Kindles with physical buttons I think that everyone got confused when moving between them and touchscreen 'phones.

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

The boring answer is... bypass the front page by adding wiki as a search term. Even without proper site restriction the search algorithm will work fine, not surprisingly, eg:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wiki+mnemonic

Maybe, but old habits die hard... I see you've turned away from the ubiquitous G****e engine - methinks I ought to do the same, but as I said before...

I was once recommended Ecosia as my search engine, with its claim to 'plant a tree for every search'. It does carry sponsored links though. I admit I haven't switched from the G-word yet. Does anyone here use Ecosia?

[thirdcrank]

Some of the things being described are not necessarily age related. eg I remember learning to play chess aged 9 or 10. There was a craze of playing chess for a few days and away from the board, I found myself planning chess moves for my own movement. It's pretty much the same with wondering what was I going to do next. However, I can see evidence over the years of ways my memory deteriorated. This isn't the first thread like this and I've probably mentioned the cup of tea (or, indeed, coffee.) Once upon a time, I could remember if I had a part-drunk drink "on the go" even if I couldn't remember where I had put it down. Not any more. I used to have an excellent memory, to the extent that I never bothered with an engagements diary and recognising the need to keep one has not been easy - old dog, new tricks.