The quick updates that most of us post on Facebook throughout the day are usually meant to share a funny story or let our friends know what we are up to.  But be careful what you post.  New research has found that it’s those little passages that we read during our social networking sessions that tend to stick with us longer than nearly anything else we see or read.

The study, a combined effort by scientists at the University of California San Diego and the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, showed that Facebook statuses and posts are more memorable than other sentences or people’s faces.¹ Smith, Lewis. “How our brains are hardwired for Facebook: Scientists astonished to discover that social network posts are much more memorable than books.” Daily Mail. 16 January 2013. Accessed 24 January 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2263229/Should-JK-worried-Scientists-astonished-discover-Facebook-posts-memorable-books.html   Sadly, they were remembered one and a half times better than sentences in published books and two and a half times better than people’s faces. Is that significant?  According to the researchers, that difference is roughly equivalent to the gap between someone with normal memory function versus someone with amnesia.

The subjects were 280 undergraduate students at the University of California San Diego.  The participants were subject to several kinds of memory testing, measuring not only their recall ability, but how certain they felt about their recall. The participants were split into two groups and shown either 100 sentences posted on Facebook or 100 sentences that appeared in books.  All of the sentences in both categories were relatively short, with the longest running 25 words, and the Facebook statuses actually averaged a few words longer than the book sentences.

Immediately after seeing the sentences, the volunteers were presented with a larger list of sentences.  They had to choose which of the sentences they had already seen.  In addition, they had to rate each of these 200 sentences for just how sure they were whether it had appeared in the original group of sentences or not.  Those who were shown Facebook posts had markedly better recall of the sentences they had read, and also displayed a higher level of confidence in their certainty that it was on the initial list when compared to the book sentence readers.

The second portion of the memory testing research had one group of subjects reading Facebook posts, while the second group viewed photos of human faces.  Then, each group was shown the information that the other group had seen.  Both groups displayed a much better recollection of the Facebook writings than of the faces.

The scientists’ explanation for this finding revolves around the similarity of Facebook entries to our natural speech, which we are biologically programmed to remember as part of our socialized community.  That is one possible explanation.  However, coming from the point of view of a writer, I would like to think that maybe at least some of the Facebook posts are simply memorable because of the purposeful misspellings and the entertaining to downright bizarre things that people decide to share for the whole world (or at least their 3,000 friends) to see.  In contrast, a well-written sentence may need to be part of a larger theme to be especially memorable. Another explanation is that millenials are much more comfortable getting their information from short entries on computers, as opposed to books. And if you spend all your time experiencing life through an LED screen and texting (can you say Manti Te’o?), you’re just not getting as much practice at meeting new people (in the flesh) and learning how to remember faces compared to previous generations. And yes, remembering faces is an acquired skill — even if we’re not conscious of it.

That said, Facebook can be a great way of feeling part of a larger community in our increasingly distant world. Now that close friends and family may live hundreds or thousands of miles apart, life is different than in the olden days when most people settled down in the same neighborhood in which they grew up.  But though it may help to shore up some relationships, this social network also helps break down relationships in some cases.  In fact, according to Divorce Online, one-third of all of the divorce filings that took place in 2011 actually mentioned Facebook.² Goldwert, Lindsay. “Facebook named in a third of divorce filings in 2011.” Daily News. 24 May 2012. Accessed 25 January 2013. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/facebook-ruining-marriage-social-network-named-divorce-filings-2011-article-1.1083913   Plus, not only are the words written on Facebook used as evidence in divorce proceedings, they are also used in custody hearings.  If your child posts inappropriate things, it can be used against you in court as proof of your poor parenting.³ Lupkin, Sydney. “Can Facebook Ruin Your Marriage?” ABC News. 24 May 2012. Accessed 25 January 2013. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-relationship-status/story?id=16406245

And as a final note, if a lot of the writings on Facebook are so memorable, everyone making use of the site should really think before they type.  Clearly, it’s worth it to not only choose your own words wisely, but pay close attention to the entries of your kids too.  Remember, what you and your children post today may be remembered for the rest of your lives.